


Broken Gift

by alpacameron



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Abuse, Adventure, Angst, Demon Dean, Destiel - Freeform, Drama, FF.net, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sabriel, M/M, Mark of Cain, OC, Sabriel - Freeform, Spoilers up to 9.23, Supernatural - Freeform, Suspense, Tablet, Torture, Tragic Romance, Trials, mentions of Abaddon, mentions of Gadreel, prophet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-11-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 10:16:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 50,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1775473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alpacameron/pseuds/alpacameron
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things get bloodier in more ways than one when the trials to curing Dean make an unexpected turn towards death and insanity. The five years are up and Dean starts to hear a way-too-familiar voice in the back of his mind, who guides him into doing things that are far too unforgivable… until it’s Dean entirely. A child prophet with missing parents, an archangel who will be forced to face his family, an angel that can never really decide if they’re actually an angel or not, a demon who's always absent, a knight of hell who just can’t take the pain, and a human who isn’t handling this all too well are all pushed to their limits while dealing with multiple problems with very limited solutions.</p><p>Destiel • Subconscious Implied Sabriel?<br/>I don't own Supernatural</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Regeneration

**Author's Note:**

> Hullo! Welcome to my most recent continuing fanficion, Broken Gift. This started out mostly with me just wanting to write something, but then I found myself planning out everything and writing more and more. It starts out right after the cliffhanger finale of Demon!Dean.  
> This fanfic was originally posted on fanfiction.net.
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural.
> 
> Some parts of my fanfiction were inspired by tumblr posts:  
> \- Dean getting flustered and his eyes changing from normal to black when he compliments Cas: inspired by a tumblr post by fus-roh-destiel.tumblr.com  
> \- Italics at the end of the chapter ("Dean Winchester is saved" bit): inspired by a tumblr post by youdtearthiscanvasskinapart.tumblr.com

Crowley smiled as Dean sat up, sparkling green eyes replaced with jet black. Dean turned his head towards Crowley, but he couldn't recall Crowley looking like  _that_. His body was still there, but it was surrounded by thick black smoke – demon smoke. It also seemed he had horns extending from his head and curling backwards. The skin on his face looked as if it had been torn apart and replaced in a jagged pattern.

"Hello, Dean," he said, red eyes gleaming. His smile was genuine, but almost looked sinister with his crossroad demon eyes shining through the smoke.

Dean groaned and rubbed his eyes, blinking a few times, and his eyes returned to normal. Something wasn't right. "Why… why do you look like that?" Dean finally asked.

Crowley looked down at what he was wearing. "You don't like my outfit?" he teased.

"No, I mean the smoke," he replied, waving a hand in Crowley's direction at his bedside, "and the face, which is uglier than usual."

Crowley laughed. "Oh, this," he said, looking down at himself again, "you're seeing my true form."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "What happened? I thought I was dead."

"Oh you were, but then you brought yourself back. It's funny, how these little miracles happen, but I don't think this is what you'd call a miracle."

Dean stared at the smoke surrounding Crowley. The Mark of Cain. Not dead. Can see demons' true forms. Dean finally got it. He woke up a demon.

"No," he whispered, "no no no no. This wasn't supposed to happen, I should be dead!"

Crowley dropped his smirk. Even though he wanted to yell, he stayed calm. "Look, if you had died, that'd be it. Dead. Nothing to save you, unless little brother Sammy here sold his soul – which he was planning to do, by the way. But the Mark saved you; it brought you back. We could still find a solution."

Dean remained silent. What would Sam think? What would Cas think? He couldn't help but imagine their devastated faces when they found out. That's what he spend his  _entire life_  doing: hunting demons and all the other monsters that followed. And now he's become one of them.  _Way to go._

Despite all the panic Dean felt rush through him, something kept him from freaking out. He stared down at his hands, and then realized he had the First Blade firmly grasped in his right hand.  _How did that get there?_ Alongside with the peace, he felt need. The need to keep it in his hand, to use it to kill whatever tried to interfere with him.  _No,_  he tried to say, but the other part of him wouldn't listen.  _Put the blade down._

"Dean," Crowley's voice interrupted his internal conflict. "You can put the blade down."

"Yeah," he responded, partially to himself. Dean's hand shook as he held the blade over the bedside table.  _Let it go._ The blade dropped onto the table.

"Now stay here while I go tell Sam what happened. I can't wait to see his face." Crowley chuckled, and then when Dean blinked, he was gone.

* * *

"Hello, Moose." Sam turned around and saw Crowley standing by the entryway. He put down his bottle of Whiskey and turned his body towards Crowley.

"It's about time." Sam's expression was unchanged. He felt pain and sadness, yet also anger and regret, and it all neutralized into one feeling of just not caring. All he wanted was his brother back.

Sam opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted. "I know, I know. You want to sell your soul to bring your brother back from the dead," he paused and sighed. "Well I can't do that, since he's not exactly dead."

Sam jumped up from the chair, eyes widened. "What? Dean's alive?"

"The Mark of Cain brought him back. With a little bit of my help, of course."

"What did you do?"

"I put the blade in his hand, and I convinced what was left of him to come back." Crowley, no matter how much he wanted to look away, kept his eyes on Sam's confused expression.

" _What was left of him_?" Sam inquired. "What do you mean?"

Crowley stepped closer. "Well, you see, having him save himself like that came with some side effects." Sam creased his eyebrows together, trying to understand. Crowley sighed. "Cain was a demon," he explained, "and Dean was not. Dean was just barely strong enough to handle the Mark, but his body needed more power. So what did it do to him to make him stronger?" Sam said nothing once he realized the answer. "It made him a demon."

"A demon," Sam echoed. No, that can't be right. All of the information made sense, but it just can't be  _right_. "But he's alive, right?"

Crowley nodded.

"Can I go see him?"

"Go right ahead." Crowley walked with Sam to the room Dean was lying on the bed dead just ten minutes ago.

* * *

When they walked in, Dean was sitting on the edge of the bed taking deep breaths. He looked up and saw Sam, and a weak smile grew across his face. "Heya, Sammy." His eyes flickered from normal to black every few times he blinked. "Man, I still can't control these very well." He muttered.

"Dean," Sam breathed as he quickly made over to Dean and wrapped him in a hug, tears slowly spilling out from his eyes. "You were dead, Dean. You were dead." He whispered, voice catching at the end.

Dean hugged him back tightly. "I don't know how much better this is, though."

They sat down on the edge of the bed and Crowley took his place in the armchair.

"You know," Sam started, "we could try the demon cure we found for the third trial. Do you think that could work?"

"Probably not," Crowley replied, "the Mark would most likely overpower it. Also, the vessel would have to be possessed by a demon, and Dean  _is_ a demon. He's practically Cain."

After a moment of silence, Dean somehow managed to laugh in the tense situation. "We were just looking for our dad," he said, his voice just slightly louder than a whisper, "how did it end up here?" he shook his head and closed his eyes. "We were just looking for our dad." Dean hung his head down and looked at the floor.

Sam put his arm around his brother's shoulders. The three of them sat there for a few minutes until Crowley said, "Why don't you call your angel for a little extra help?"

Sam sighed. "He should've been back by now. Metatron might have captured him. We can try praying to him, if he even still gets that sort of thing."

Dean looked up. He dreaded Castiel's reaction the most. He knew his brother would be happy to see him, even if he was disappointed. With Cas, Dean didn't know whether Cas would be happy, angry, both, or worse. Dean was becoming more and more aware that most of Cas's actions were for him. Cas dragged Dean from hell, rebelled for him, started a civil war in heaven for him, stayed in purgatory for him, and gave up his entire army for him. And what does Dean do in return? Become a demon. Cas dragged him out of hell, and now he  _is_  hell.  _Way to go, Dean Winchester._

Dean didn't want Cas to think he was dead, but he didn't exactly want to face him, either. Not yet, at least.

"I'm going to get some food or something." Dean mumbled, standing up.

"But we were just about to call Cas. Don't you want to see him?" Sam pleads.

Dean just says quietly, "Not yet," and walks out the door. He went and sat down where Sam was sitting just earlier, not even hungry.

Sam prayed to Cas silently.  _Cas. I don't know what's going on up there, if you're locked up, if you beat Metatron or what. But some sort of cursed miracle happened, and you probably want to know. It's Dean. He was dead, but now he's alive. Except something is wrong. I'd rather tell you in person, if you can. Please._

Though Cas had not yet taken his grace back, he still had some left and could hear Sam's prayers. He came down within a minute, but Hannah was also with him.

"Hello, Sam. Crowley." He greeted.

"Hey, Cas. Why's Hannah here?" Sam asked.

Cas turned his head to look at Hannah, who stood at his side. "I don't have my wings back, yet. She had to bring me down."

Hannah nodded. "Just call for me when you need to come back up, Castiel." Then she was gone.

"Dean's alive?" he asked urgently, once she left, "Where is he?"

"He's getting something to eat, angel. Sit down and let us tell you what happened." Crowley said.

Cas sat on the bed next to Sam and they explained how Dean was killed by Metatron and woke up as a demon.

Cas was quiet. He stared down at his hands. "So… Dean's alive, and he's a demon." The situation felt strange. He felt so much disappointment yet relief at the same time. Cas had rescued Dean from hell. Dean died. Dean is alive. Dean is a demon. Mostly, his emotion was a question:  _What are we going to do?_ Cas sighed. "Let me see him."

Sam shrugged. "I don't know if he really wants to talk right-"

"Let me see him."

Sam motioned towards the door. "He's out there." Cas walked out the door and to the main room where he saw Dean sitting in a chair, back facing him. Black smoke surrounded him in his seat, and no doubt his eyes were pitch black.

"Dean?"

Dean turned around and stood up. When he laid eyes on Castiel, however, he was silent. His mouth was open slightly and he stared at Cas and around him. Not only could he see demons, he could see Angels' true forms as well. Cas had a dimming blue-ish – white light glowing around him, and even brighter around and above his head, like a halo. His eyes glowed bright blue. Still, he had no wings. His grace was still fading. He had not taken it back yet.

"Wow," Dean breathed, completely forgetting what had happened. "You're gorgeous." Cas smiled, then Dean realized what he said. His face went pink and his eyes switched from normal to black each time he blinked. "I mean – er, well, um – sorry."

Cas smiled even more. "It's – It's fine. Thank you. My angelic form is actually about 1,000 times larger, but while I'm in my vessel it appears smaller."

Dean laughed lightly. "Show off…" After the awkwardness Dean had just suffered through, he didn't know what to say. He looked back up at Cas, and suddenly Cas had his arms wrapped around Dean in a hug. Dean smiled and hugged Cas back. This was one hundred times better than the reaction he was expecting.

"Metatron…" Cas said quietly, "he was going to kill me with the blade he killed you with. It still had your blood on it." Cas's voice was quiet, like he was trying not to cry.

"I'm alive. I'm alive." Dean repeated to him. Cas needed the reassurance, and he gripped him tight like Dean was going to disappear when he let go. Dean pulled back and said "but you're probably not thrilled with why."

Cas sighed. "No, I'm not." He started, staring into Dean's new, empty black eyes. Being an angel, he could only see the blackness of his eyes and torn up skin of his face. Never again will he see Dean's gorgeous green eyes or the freckles spreading across his nose. It was hard to look at Dean without cringing, even though he was used to the sight of demons. "I'm still upset."

Dean sat back down and Cas took the chair next to him. Dean rubbed his forehead and stared at the table. "I'm sorry Cas. I just- you… you've done so much for me. And look at how I repaid you."

"Dean, it's not your fault Metatron-"

"But I'm the one who accepted the stupid mark in the first place!" Dean interrupted. Cas looked away. Dean didn't have any other choice, but Cas didn't want to carry the argument. He wasn't very happy with Dean being a demon. Not at all. It did anger him some, considering it  _was_  what he saved him from in the first place, but Cas was tired of Dean taking the blame for everything. It was only really partially his fault, but Dean already had too much on his shoulders, and half of what haunted him wasn't even his fault. It was nothing he could have stopped at the moment, but he felt it all backtracked to him. Cas didn't want him to feel this way, but he can't control Dean's emotions. Especially since he is now a demon and is half-controlled by the First Blade.

Dean finally looked back up at Cas. He squinted his eyes as he studied Castiel's angelic form. He was large and majestic, stretching up many feet above Jimmy Novak's head. "You didn't get your grace back," Dean said aloud, mostly to himself. "You look… faded."

Cas looked back at Dean in the eyes, even if it did make him shiver to see him like that. "I didn't take it back, no," he started, "I was hoping that I could be human after… after it was all over. But I guess not. We'll need the help." He decided, sitting up in his chair. After a moment, Cas said, "should I go get Sam and Crowley?"

Dean nodded, and Cas went to retrieve the two from the bedroom.

* * *

The four of them sat down together at the table. "So," Sam said, "what do we do now?"

"Look for a cure?" Dean suggested.

"That will be difficult," Crowley said, "you have very limited options. You can transfer the Mark to someone strong enough like you – though it seems that you are the only one similar enough to Cain to withstand the Mark – or see if Cain himself will take it back. He most likely will not want it, considering he asked you to kill him once you killed Abaddon." The other three listened carefully as Crowley explained their options. "But the Mark was given to Cain by Lucifer. If Lucifer is the one to give it to him, perhaps he can be the one to take it off." They stared at him, surprised.

"How the hell would we get Lucifer to take off the Mark?" Sam inquired. "Also, he's locked in the cage. How would we get in?"

"Dean is now a Knight of Hell," Crowley explained, "he can stroll right on in. However, the cage is protected against any powers an angel or demon may have. So if you walk in, you aren't getting out."

So that option is out. They were all highly against consulting Lucifer anyhow, especially Sam.

Cas looked up. "Wait, Lucifer is an archangel and he was able to give Cain the Mark. Maybe another archangel has the power of taking it away."

"Aren't all the other archangels dead?" Crowley remarked.

"Actually," Cas said, regaining their attention, "one might still be alive."

"Who?" Dean asked.

"Gabriel."

"Wait – Gabriel died. Lucifer stabbed him." Sam said.

Cas leaned his elbows against the table. Story time. "When Metatron captured me, he put me into a hallucination. Gabriel was there and he helped me through it, even though he was still just acting as a character for Metatron. Once I had figured it out, I asked him if he was actually dead. He just gave me a look, and wiggled his eyebrows. Then he left." The others were speechless. "Maybe it's a sign that he isn't actually dead."

Dean frowned. "What if Metatron was just messing with you?"

"I don't know," Cas responded, "we've got him locked up in heaven. The angel tablet is destroyed, so now he is just a normal angel. We were planning to ask him some questions. We have not yet decided his fate."

"So your angel army is back on your side now?" asked Sam.

Cas nodded. "We can ask him about Gabriel. I'll also retrieve my grace." The three of them nodded. "When should we go up?"

"Tomorrow?" Dean suggested. Sam nodded in agreement. Dean turned back towards Cas. "So, what're you going to do until then? Go back up to Heaven, or do you want to spend a night here?"

Cas looked up towards the ceiling, as if he were looking up at Heaven. Maybe angels had a thing like that, who knows. "I suppose I'll stay down here. They'd have questions for me. Questions I don't feel like answering." He brought his eyes back down and looked at the Winchesters.

Sam stood up. "Okay, well, I'll prepare you a room. Dean, get yourself cleaned up. " Dean still had blood all over his face, arms, and clothing. Sure enough, his stab wound had sealed up. "I don't know about you guys, but it's been a long week for me. I'm going to bed soon."

Crowley, who had been silent, piped up. "Well, I guess I'll see you lot later. Good luck." With that, he was gone.

While Dean went to the bathroom to clean the blood off of him, Sam led Cas to the room Dean was in shortly before. He cleaned up the room a bit and left it to Cas.

"Thank you, Sam."

"Don't mention it," he replied, turning to walk out the door. Cas wasn't familiar with the expression, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Sam?" he asked, "Do you think Dean is going to be okay?" Sam stopped and turned around.

"Honestly, I don't know." He said. Cas looked down and back up without saying anything. "Goodnight Cas."

"Goodnight Sam."

_The words that were once exclaimed throughout Heaven were now heard in Hell: Dean Winchester is saved._


	2. Interrogation

None of them slept that well. All of them had questions that couldn't be answered. Dean kept himself awake self-loathing and listened to music for two hours to keep his mind off it. Sam was still shaken from the few nights before, and Cas, even now, wasn't used to sleeping. That night was the first time Cas has slept in a long time, and most likely the last as well.

Cas woke up first, followed shortly by Dean. About half an hour later, Sam showed up as well. After Sam and Dean had eaten a quick breakfast, they decided it was time to go up to talk with Metatron.

"Are you sure they're going to let me in?" Dean asked.

Cas nodded. "They trust me. It'll be fine." Before Dean could protest even more – which Cas knew he was – Cas called Hannah on their Angel Radio and she was there in an instant. She greeted them and gave Dean a leering glance. "He's fine." Cas reassured, but Hannah hasn't trusted him since Tessa's death. Hannah's true form was large like Castiel's but still somehow petite. She was brighter than Castiel and her wings extended out from her shoulder blades. While whenever humans saw angel wings, they were merely shadows. Their true wings were large and majestic, covered in soft feathers. Hannah's feathers were light grey and white at the ends, almost transparent. Dean gawks at her wings, still fascinated about being able to see them. She brought them all up to heaven.

Heaven's darkest dungeons were nothing but bars and stone. To the left were the remains of a cell, which had been blown up by Gadreel. The dungeons he had spent thousands of years in was where he died. To give Heaven and second chance. Sam gave Cas a questioning look, nodding his head towards the exploded cell.

"Gadreel… sacrificed himself. To help me." Cas gazed longingly at the rubble. Gadreel was dead, but they had succeeded. So far.

The four of them walked towards Metatron's cell, where he sat silently staring at the ground, still in his "Marv" costume. Hannah explains to them about Metatron.

"We've been waiting for your return to start questioning him," she explained.

Cas nodded. "Let's get started."

Hannah got Metatron and led them out of the dungeon to a protected room. She stood near the back of the room while Castiel and the Winchesters stood in front of Metatron, who was strapped to a chair. Hannah gave Sam and Cas an angel blade.

"Hello, Metatron." Dean said, glaring.

"Hello, Dean. How's the new look going for you?" he smirked and then frowned at Sam and Cas "I don't think they like it that much."

Dean sighed and ignored his remarks. They all asked Metatron a few questions, and every now and then Hannah piped up to ask a question. Most of his answers were useless, as if he was just winging his entire plan. The ones that were important were the ones that were hardest to get out.

"Where's his grace?" Hannah asked.

Metatron shrugged. "I have lots of hiding places. Could be in any one of them, I don't remember." Cas glared at him. Of course Metatron knew where he kept Castiel's grace. It wasn't anyplace locked up, since he was certain Castiel wouldn't be able to get into his office. After a bit of threatening, Metatron finally says "his grace is in a drawer in my desk; bottom right."

"Do you want to get it now, Castiel?" Hannah asked.  
Cas shook his head, "No, I can't wait."

Sam then turned around and quietly asked, "Should we ask about Gabriel?" Cas and Dean nodded. Sam turned back around and looked at Metatron in the eye. "Is Gabriel alive?"

Metatron tilted his head a bit and laughed. "What makes you think Gabriel is alive?"

Cas stepped forward. "The hallucination you put me in."

Metatron laughed again. "I was just messing around with you! Gabriel's dead! Stabbed in the heart by Lucifer – and poof – gone." He spoke just a little bit too quickly and his eyes flashed with worry.

Sam lurched forward and put the angel blade to Metatron's throat. "Tell the truth, you son of a bitch."

Metatron panicked. "Fine, fine! Take the blade away, and I'll talk." Sam pulled the blade back and stepped away. "Gabriel is alive."

Dean narrowed his eyes. "How did he fake his death?"

"He has several times, Dean. He's an archangel." Sam reminded him. "And it does seem a little odd that he had a prepared video specifically for  _us_ in case he died." Dean shrugged, knowing that was true.

"Where is he?" Cas begged.

"Oh, I've got him locked up in a special little archangel jail I made just for him."

Cas motioned for Hannah, and she walked over and unstrapped Metatron from the chair but still keeping him secure so he can't pull any more tricks. "Show us."

Metatron led them to his office and stopped in front of the mirror. He shifted uncomfortably as Hannah tightened her grip on him. He leaned close to the mirror where he watched Sam, Cas, Dean and Hannah stare back at him. Metatron whispered an enochian spell, and suddenly the mirror rippled like someone had dropped a pebble into a puddle. He motioned with his hand for them to walk right in. Dean warily took a step in and disappeared, followed by Sam. Cas catches Hannah's eyes in the mirror and stares at her.

"Don't let him go, no matter what." Hannah nodded, and Cas stepped into the mirror.

He was in a small room, just slightly bigger than the dungeon cells. It was well furnished with a purple sofa and a side table with a jar filled with candy.

Gabriel sat lazily on the sofa, a lollipop in his mouth. He wore a dark brown jacket with a white shirt underneath and a pair of jeans. Dean didn't see his true form.

Gabriel jumped up. "Sam! Dean!" his eyes lit up especially when Cas entered. "Castiel!" He engulfed Cas in a bear hug. "Hey little brother." He whispered, squeezing him tightly.

"Hello, Gabriel." He whispered back. Gabriel let go and lightly hugged Sam and Dean. "Where's your grace?" Cas asked. Gabriel sighed and sat back down.

"Metatron took it."

"How did he even get you, and weren't you dead?" Dean asked. He wanted to believe him, but something at the back of his mind told him that this was all Metatron's trick.  _Shut up._

Gabriel gave Dean a look. An  _'are you joking?'_ look. "Did you really think I was stupid enough to go against  _Lucifer_? It was just an illusion, of course. I had to keep it a secret so you – or anyone else – wouldn't go looking for me."

Sam creased his eyebrows together. "How did Metatron find and capture you, then?"

Gabriel sighed. "I don't know how he found me, but he knew I was more powerful than him and wanted me gone. At first he tried to convince me to join his side.  _Hell no._ I declined. He started to beg. I declined. Next thing I know he's pulled out a syringe and is stealing my grace. Then he captured me, and put me here. At least he was nice enough to give me furniture and some candy." He waved his hand around the miniature room. "Now, he out-tricked the trickster. But he did make one mistake." Gabriel fixed his gaze on the mirror they had stepped out of. "He can't see in, but I can see out." Sam, Dean and Cas turned and looked at the mirror, and sure enough they saw Hannah firmly gripping Metatron as his eyes wandered the room. "I can't hear anything, though, but I was able to watch everything he did. He mostly sat there and typed." Gabriel looked back at the other three. "So, how did you know I was in here?"

"We were interrogating Metatron. He finally gave in and brought us here." Dean vaguely explained.

"But why did you even think he had me here?"

Cas explained to Gabriel how Metatron captured him and Gabriel was written into the hallucination.

Gabriel stared at the ceiling, as if trying to remember something. "Oh, yes. That. Technically, part of it was actually me." Cas stared at him, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. "Metatron had to insert just a drop of my grace into you for you to be able to see me without me actually being there. He could probably do that with any other angel, but since I'm an archangel he needed a part of me." Gabriel explained. Cas nodded. "I could just barely see what was going on. It was horrible. I could only partially control my actions. Like when you asked if I was dead." He imitated his eyebrow waggle.

Dean stood up. "Well, enough story time. Let's get out of here." The other three followed him out the mirror.

"Hello, Metatron." Gabriel spat.

"Nice to see you again, Gabe." He responded, obviously trying to annoy him.

Gabriel glared at him. "Don't call me that."

Cas spoke up, "You can take him back to the room, Hannah." Hannah nodded and led Metatron out of his office.

"Let's get your grace back," Sam suggested. Cas walked to Metatron's desk, hoping Gabriel's grace was in the same drawer as his. Sure enough, it was. Cas picked up the bottle with Gabriel's grace and kept his grace there. He handed it to Gabriel, who took a deep breath and opened the bottle. The blue grace seeped out of the bottle and into Gabriel's mouth. Dean watched in amazement as Gabriel began to glow. His true form was coming back. He was larger than both Cas and Hannah combined. Instead of a white light with some blue, he was whiteish-silver with gold. His wings were large and golden, silver at the bottom. They shimmered as if he had taken a shower in sparkles. They arched high up to the ceiling and to the walls beside them. His whiskey eyes shone silver. He was a large, powerful celestial being.

When Gabriel noticed Dean gaping, he gasped. "Dean!" A look of pure horror crossed his face as he took in what once was Dean. Black eyes, torn face, curving horns and black smoke. "What… what did you do?" he cried. Normally, he would've cracked a joke about how Sam was supposed to be Lucifer, but he stayed quiet.

"That, uh, takes a lot of explaining." Dean responded, sighing. Demons definitely weren't as pretty as angels.

Gabriel then looked at Castiel and gasped again. "Cas, where are your wings, and what happened to your grace?"

Cas looked at the ground and back up at Gabriel. "This isn't my grace. Metatron took my grace, and I needed some to keep me powered. I stole this grace from another angel, and it's burning out."

"Where's your grace, then? You captured Metatron, why not take it back?"  
"I was going to wait until after we were done with him." Cas explained.

Gabriel was about to question him, but closed his mouth. "Alright. Shall we finish it up, then?"

* * *

Two angels, a demon and a human went back to the protected room to talk with Metatron some more.

"Ah, Gabriel, I see you've discovered which one of us is the demon. Ugly, isn't he?"

Gabriel just glared at Metatron without saying anything snarky in response. Gabriel just walked over to the side as Castiel took his place directly in front of Metatron, looking down at him as he was strapped to the chair.

"Do you know how to remove the Mark of Cain?" he asked.

"Wait," Gabriel interrupted, "the Mark of Cain?" Sam shushed him and told him they'd explain later.

Metatron ignored him. "What do you think of Dean being a demon, Castiel? Surely you must feel something considering you'd do pretty much everything for him."

Cas didn't say anything for a moment, then decided to ignore back. "Answer the question, Metatron. Don't change the subject."

"Oh, but am I?" he inquired, tilting his head down and giving Cas an ' _are you really sure?'_  expression. "It's all connected. The Mark of Cain turning Dean into a Demon, and Demon Dean changed your plans, didn't it Castiel?"

"This is not an answer to the question I-"

"You wanted to be human, didn't you?"

Cas stopped.

Metatron kept going. "You wanted to be human once it was all over with. You wanted to be human so when all this was over you could go live happily ever after with your other human."

Sam and Gabriel shared a look. Dean, who even though was surprised by this information, felt pure rage. Not only was Metatron embarrassing him, he was embarrassing Cas. There was this sudden urge to rip out Metatron's guts – or at least more than usual.  _No, you don't even have a weapon, how would you kill him?_  Use your bare hands.  _He just wants you to get angry. Don't. For Sam. For Cas._ Dean, for now, was able to control his internal conflict.

Cas almost looked like he had a lightning storm above his head, but her kept his eyes on the ground and spoke quietly. "How do you know that's what I would've wanted?"

"Oh, please," Metatron sneered, "'I just want to be an angel.' You were right outside my cell, I could hear you. Plus, I was the one with the typewriter. I know what all of you want." Metatron nodded his head at Gabriel. "Gabe here just wants his family back; to be alive, to not start a war when there's an argument; to be happy." A pained expression appeared on Gabriel's face. No doubt that was true. Metatron then looked at Sam. "Sam wants a lot of things, but the one thing that he never got was a normal life. He's tried so many times, but he never got what he wanted." Sam tensed up. Ever since he was a child he wanted the same thing. "Dean," Metatron starts again, "Dean is just tired. There is no major want, just major need: Dean needs his family. Sam and Cas. What did you call it? Team Free Will?" A sinister grin spread across his face. Dean's expression didn't change.

Metatron looked at Cas again. "Don't you want to satisfy them? How will you manage that when you can't even help yourself?" Cas couldn't find anything to say. He was becoming more and more angry. "I also know, Castiel, that you won't be able to kill me. You're too… good. You can kill but you don't like it. I'm sure your demon boyfriend here won't have a problem with that, though. He's like a psycho killer demon Hulk or something." Nobody really understood why they let him keep talking, but they did. "Can you believe  _that_  is what you rebelled for? Gave up your army for?"

The angel blade appeared in Castiel's hand.

"Look at what he did to you," he went on, "look at how he repays you!" Castiel's face was pale and his whole body was tense. "Let's not even mention how much you've messed up, Castiel. Chosen the wrong option on a multiple-choice question. You've screwed up their missions countless times.  _How could he ever love you back?"_

Suddenly Cas lurches forward with a yell. Before anyone can stop him, the angel blade has sunk into Metatron and a white light glowed from his wound and face as he screamed. Metatron was dead.

After a short pause to take in what happened, Dean said, "he just wanted you to get angry, we could have gotten more out of him!" All the anger that was bubbled up inside of him from Metatron was suddenly released on Cas. In his anger, he added, "you shouldn't have done that!"

Cas slowly turned around to look at their stunned faces. "I… I couldn't hear any more. My apologies." Cas couldn't help but believe everything that Metatron said, because those type of thoughts are the ones that haunt him the most. And now he's screwed up and made the wrong choice.  _Again_. Cas took a deep breath and quickly walked out the door. Dean then realized what he said. He basically proved Metatron's point.

"Oh…" he mumbled, running out the door. "Shit." He ran to catch up with Cas, but he was already far up the hallway. "Cas! Wait!" he called. Cas was walking towards Metatron's office. "Cas!" he called again. This time Cas stopped. Dean caught up and stood in front of him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I didn't mean to-"

"No, it's okay." Cas said, looking up directly into Dean's eyes, "you were right."

"You were right to kill him. I was just angry with Metatron, and ended up letting out the anger on you. I'm sorry."

Cas just sighed. "I want to go get my grace." Dean nodded and they turned to walk to Metatron's office. Gabriel and Sam peeked down the hall and decided to leave them alone. Once they were in Metatron's office, Dean got Castiel's grace from the drawer and handed it to him. Cas held the small bottle of sparkling grace in his hand and gazed at it. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes flicked open and he twisted the top off the bottle. The grace floated into his mouth, and Dean watched in amazement. Castiel's angelic form grew brighter and bigger and his wings emerged from his back. His wings were dark, each feather black but merged with a dark blue at the tip. His wings were also threaded with shiny feathers that refracted light like diamonds, creating dark little rainbows in his wings. Cas couldn't help but smile when he saw Dean admiring him. Even his eyes were brighter.

"Your wings…" Dean trailed off, stepping closer to get a better look. "Can I feel them?" Cas nodded. Dean reached out and gently brushed his fingertips along his feathers. It was softer than any material he's ever felt. "Wow," he breathed, "they're amazing." Cas's smile grew bigger.

"Let's go home." Cas suggested.

Dean tilted his head. "Isn't this your home?"

Castiel sighed. "Not as much as it used to be. They hardly seem like my family anymore." His smile slowly fell.

Dean patted his back. "Well then, let's go home."

* * *

Sam, Gabriel and Hannah waited at the end of the hallway. When Dean and Cas came back, Gabriel immediately noticed Cas's wings. "Cassie! You got your wings back!"

Cas smiles. "Yes. I did." Having wings was the best part about being an angel to Cas. Not only were they beautiful and unique, but they could also transport you anytime, anywhere.

Gabriel smiled back at Cas. "What now?"

"We're going home." Gabriel nodded, and the angels transported the Winchesters back into their bunker.

Gabriel looked around and smiled. "This place is nice. How'd you find it?"

"This is the hideout of the Men of Letters, or whatever they called this place. We found out our grandfather was a Men of Letters, and we were lead here." Sam quickly explained.

"Ah," Gabriel noted, turning around to admire the place, "I like it."

"Would you like a room?" Dean suggested.

Gabriel's eyes lit up. "Ooh, yes!"

Sam shifted awkwardly. "Cas, can you go find a room for Gabriel to stay in?" Cas said yes and led Gabriel down the hallway to find an empty bedroom. Sam turned towards Dean. "Is everything alright? I mean… did you guys… like, make up?"

"Yeah, uh," Dean cleared his throat, "yeah. We're fine. He got his grace back."

Sam paused and racked his brain, trying to figure out the best way to word what he wanted to say. He couldn't figure it out. "You know… you know he loves you, right?"

Dean looked at his feet, heat rising to his cheeks. "Yeah," he looked back up at Sam, "I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo, thank you for continuing to read my fanficiton. I appreciate the reviews I got, thank you.  
> Okay, so yes, I brought back Gabriel. I kinda had to, he's my favourite, and there's no way he's dead after Meta Fiction. Expect a Gabriel chapter (aka a filler) soon.  
> ily you all  
> -Cameron


	3. Memories

Gabriel and Castiel sit in Gabriel's room to catch up. Gabriel was alive during the events, but he stayed in his own little corner of the universe and stayed away from all the drama. Cas filled him in on what he missed: the end of the apocalypse, the leviathans and purgatory, and Kevin and the trials. They sat there for hours talking.

Late into the night, Cas excused himself and left to go to his room. Gabriel, in his boredom, created a list of nicknames for Team Free Will:

**Sam** : Sasquatch, Sammich, Samantha, Samifer, Mystery Spot, Tuesday, Rabbit, Uncle Sam, Saminator, Sally, Samurai, Sampling, Samba, Tarzan, Lion, Lettuce, Golidlocks/Sammilocks, and Rapunzel/Sampunzel.

**Dean** : Dean-o, Black Eyes, Sparky (upon hearing about Dean becoming half-dog after taking a spell to hear animals), Dean Bean, Deanold Duck, Cavity, Deaninator, Deaneries, Deanner Time, Knight [of hell] in Shining Armour, Deanna, Anger Management, Nighmares, and Baby Crowley.

**Cas** : Little Brother, Cassie, Cassidy, Cassandra, Sparkles, Asstiel, Casper, AlpaCastiel, HarmoniCas[tiel], Orcastiel, Broadcastiel, Commander, Catstiel, Grace, Gracie, Fledgling, and Baby Bird.

Once Gabriel couldn't think of any more, he didn't have anything else to do to distract him from his own thoughts. Even though angles don't sleep, he sprawled out on his bed and closed his eyes.

* * *

_(Gabriel's Point of View)_

I loved all of my brothers and sisters. I loved my entire family with all my heart. We'd get together to pull tricks on Lucifer, which he never really learned to like. Castiel is my little brother, and I love him, but it's basically in my job description to play tricks on him. Man, the tricks humans usually play on each other are merely jokes. I cast enochian spells on my brothers, or tie their wings together and hang them up on the wall. They never liked these tricks, until I invited them to help with them. None of them did, though. Not that much. I went to Earth more than they did, I understood human traits and qualities more than they did. God adored Lucifer more than any of the other archangels, so it was fun to ruin his spotlight. Rafael was like a stick, so it was fun to mess with him and see him go fuming off. Michael, well, he was a kiss-up and couldn't take a joke.

I have many good memories with Castiel. Before the Garden was corrupted with evil, I liked to take walks, and sometimes Castiel would join me after rough times. The Garden was peaceful and quiet, filled with forest, streams, fruits and trails. It was the most beautiful place at the time.

I left Heaven just a few years before Castiel saved Dean Winchester. Our family was in some heated arguments. Our Father was gone. No "God's Orders" for the angels to follow. At first, it was all chaos. Some angels wanted to free Gadreel, while most of the others didn't agree. Lots were upset about their missing Father. They were upset, which turned into anger. They accused the archangels of keeping secrets of God's whereabouts. I couldn't take it anymore. There was too much fighting. I can't watch my family tear each other apart like that. So I left. I wanted nothing to do with Heaven, so I travelled to the only place left to go: Earth. I got a new vessel and disconnected myself from hearing the other angels. I made my own little corner of the universe. I learned more about humanity. Sometimes, I regret my decision. Father was already gone, and one of the archangels leaves as well. I can't even imagine what it must've been like.

I knew well about the hunters that wanted to kill things like me. I had to lay low, so I decided I'd play as a Trickster. I ate lots of candy (which I got addicted to, even though angels can only really taste the individual molecules of food. I am addicted to the taste of the molecules, all right? Candy has different tasting molecules. More glucose.) It was the most fun to find things humans took interest in; myths, tall tales, aliens, paranormal, etc.; but wouldn't be believed if someone claimed they've experienced it. It's perfect for my amusement.

I discovered Sam and Dean Winchester (and how they are the most perfect victims) when they interrupted my tricks on some college students at a University. They were so obviously hunters, or at least to someone who was familiar with hunters (aka me). I planned a few measly tricks on them to turn them against each other. I mean, why not?

Sam and Dean are really good hunters. Most hunters weren't too familiar with Tricksters, so they could never really find me, but Sam and Dean did. I knew they wanted to kill me, so why not let them? Creating illusions were always the most fun. It kept them out of my way, at least for a while.

I moved on, and soon enough, I found them again. I looked into their minds, and decided to play a bit with Sam's fear. I'm pretty sure I added Tuesday's to Sam's list of fears after that, but it was totally worth it.

It seemed only like a blink of an eye when I heard the name Winchester again.

_Dean Winchester is saved._

I heard is as clear as a bell through my angel telekinesis. It had to mean something, since I had disconnected myself from Heaven years ago. I checked it out, and I was surprised. My little brother, Castiel, had pulled Dean Winchester from Perdition. I looked into it more, watching from afar. I learned as much about it as I could.

It wasn't until the final seal was broken when I had to talk to them again. So, of course, I led them into one of my tricks and attempted to tell them that they had to accept their fate, no matter how hard it was. They once again surprised me when I learned Castiel had joined forces with them. And, because they're the Winchesters, they gathered the clues and figured out I was an angel.  
I stayed out of the problem as long as I could, until the Winchesters showed up at my hotel, leaving behind a scent for Satan to follow. I obviously wasn't stupid enough to actually take on Lucifer, so both of the Gabriels he saw were just my illusions. The one he talked to, and the one he killed. Underneath all the evil, lies, hatred and madness, I could see it. Lucifer was still Daddy's little angel. Lucifer didn't want to fight; he just wanted his family back, even if it meant sacrificing humanity. He was selfish, but he wanted the same thing I wanted.

I had to stay away from angels for a long time. I couldn't go back.

I half-expected to encounter the Winchesters again, but they never showed up. Perhaps they had enough common sense to figure out how I could have possibly made a video specifically for them in case he died at that very moment, but maybe not.

I enjoyed my time of peace until Metatron kidnapped me.

And Metatron was right. All I really want is my family back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay for the Gabriel Filler Chapter! This was an excuse for many things: (a) to write a Gabriel chapter, (b) to create a list of nicknames for the three of them (*I thought Samifer would be a funny one, even though I don't ship them*), (c) put in a filler chapter because I had a writer's block while writing chapter four. I'll post chapter four tomorrow. Anyways, thanks everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter. c:
> 
> ily all  
> -Cameron


	4. Illustrate

Castiel and Gabriel eventually left their rooms in the late evening, Dean was listening to music and wandering around the bunker all afternoon, and Sam woke up from a nap a few hours later. As soon as he woken up, Gabriel said, "Okay, I think you owe me some explaining regarding Black Eyes over here."

Dean grunted at the nickname as they all sat down and looked at each other, trying to decide who starts the story. Sam sighed. "Abaddon was, well, freed or whatever, and she wanted to rule hell instead of Crowley," he started, "and Crowley and Dean went to find a way to kill her, and the only way to kill a Knight of Hell is with the First Blade."

"The First Blade needed the Mark of Cain to be useful," Dean took over, "so Cain agreed to give it to me."

Gabriel creased his brows together. "How'd you get Cain to give you his Mark?"

"He saw I had potential, or something. Cain said that I was like him, and was able to bear the power of the Mark." Dean pulled up his sleeve to show Gabriel the mark on his arm. Gabriel had to keep himself from cringing.

"We eventually killed Abaddon," Sam continued, "but when it was time to kill Metatron, Dean went alone. This ended with Metatron… stabbing Dean." Sam choked out the last words. Gabriel then truly saw how much Sam loved Dean. Maybe he had left a bigger scar than he thought after Mystery Spot.

There was a pause until Dean kept going, "After I, uh, died, I woke up. A demon. I guess you could say I was…  _Back in Black_."

"I'm involved in this story too, you know." A voice rang from behind them before anyone could say anything about Dean's stupid joke. Crowley walked over and sat in an empty chair. "I helped him wake up."

"Oh," Gabriel started, observing Crowley, "so you're Crowley, I assume."

Crowley noticed Gabriel's archangel form. "You're different from the other angels." He thought aloud.

"Yeah," Gabriel sneered, "I'm an archangel. Gabriel."

"Impressive." Crowley responded, almost sarcastically.

"Alright you two," Dean spoke, interrupting them and turning back to Gabriel "do you have any more questions?" He seemed impatient.

"How are you going to get it off?"

Cas, who had been quiet, spoke up, "We were discussing this a few days ago. We thought you might be able to help."

Gabriel shrugged, "Define help."

"Lucifer gave Cain the Mark. We thought that maybe another archangel could take it away." Castiel explained, eyes full of hope.

Gabriel inhaled through clenched teeth. "I don't know. If I could, it'd be a lot more complicated than just healing it off of him." Gabriel leaned back in his seat, scooted out and put his feet on the table, ankles crossed.

Sam sighed. "I doubt this stuff was on the Hell Tablet, was it?"

"Nope." Crowley stated.

Gabriel suddenly perked up, "Wait, maybe it's on the Tablet of Eden and Adam and Eve!" he exclaimed, swinging his legs off the table, almost hitting Crowley in the face with his feet. "Cain was one of the children of Adam and Eve," Gabriel explained, "so maybe there's more about Cain and the Mark and how to get it off."

Everyone was now paying close attention to Gabriel. "There's a tablet for Eden?" Cas inquired.

Gabriel nodded. "God wrote the tablets while he was creating life, so when he did he also wrote a tablet for the Garden and his first Humans. There's only one problem: we don't know where the tablet is. It could be in The Vault of the Earth, but it might have been dug up with the others and/or hidden."

"What's the Vault of the Earth?" Sam asked.

"The Vault of the Earth is where the tablets were all placed in the Earth's Core. Some were dug up and hidden, like the angel tablet. Some might still be down there." Gabriel explained.

"Great…" Dean mumbled, "this is just wonderful."

Crowley leaned his elbows onto the table. "How do we find it then?"

"Well, if anybody knew about it and has needed it, they mostly likely dug it out to either keep it or hide it somewhere else. However, they'd need a prophet in order to read it. If it has been opened yet, we probably would have seen some signs – like when the leviathan tablet was taken out of its clay, all angels were alerted of its opening and there were lightning storms. Also, the opening of a tablet activates the next prophet and guides the prophet to it." Castiel explained to the rest of them. Sam thought back to when Kevin was activated – he was guided to the leviathan tablet and he stole it without even knowing why he needed it.

"Who's the next prophet? Don't angels know the list of prophets or something?" Crowley asked.

"Metatron flipped a switch, as you might say, so there would be no more prophets after Kevin Tran. However, that only worked with the current generation of prophets. There is only one prophet born in the second generation." Cas closed his eyes, as if the list were written into his eyelids. "Her name is Jaelynna Brook." He said.

"Jaelynna Brook…" Sam echoed, "do you know anything about her?"

"Sadly, no," Cas replied, "just that she will most likely only be a child, being the first prophet of the second generation."

Sam sighed. He knew he'd have to do research on her later. It was fairly easy to find information on people online, though.

"Now back to the tablet," Gabriel started, "like Cas said, we would have noticed if the tablet was opened from its clay casing. If it's not in the Vault, then someone dug it up. It could be hidden, like the angel tablet was, but I doubt it."

"How do we know if it's in the Vault or not, then?" Dean questioned.

"We don't," Cas answered, "that's why we'd have to go look for ourselves."

"How do we do that? The Vault is in the Earth's core." Dean protested.

"Simple. We dig." Gabriel responds. Dick Roman had the leviathan tablet excavated for him, so maybe they could dig it up themselves.

"Can't you just, you know, zap down there?" Sam asked. Both Crowley and Gabriel shook their head. "Hey, I'm the only Human in here, how would I know?" he defended. Sam hadn't realized that it was the truth until he said it. The Boy with the Demon blood is the last human left in the room.

"I wish we could, though." Cas added.

"What happens if the tablet isn't in the vault?" Dean asked. The whole conversation was just a game of twenty questions.

Crowley groaned. "Didn't you listen at all, Squirrel? They said that someone on Earth has it."

" _But how do we know where it is_?"

"We'll figure it out if it's not in the vault." Crowley snapped back.

"Alright you two," Gabriel interrupted, "quit your bickering. We'll figure it out." Gabriel turned to look at Cas, changing the subject, "anything different up in heaven since this morning?"

Cas sighed and closed his eyes, like it hurt to think about Heaven after everything. "Some angels are searching Metatron's office. If they find anything important, they'll tell me." Castiel opened his eyes and looked back at Gabriel with pleading eyes. "Do you think you'll return to heaven, or continue the life you had before?"

Gabriel hung his head just a bit, lips trembling slightly. The memories that he had let resurface earlier hit him hard in that question, but he didn't want his little brother to know. He put a smile on his face and brought his head up "I don't know," he said, cheer placed carefully in his voice, but then changed to a [slightly more] serious tone. "But if I can help, I will, and I am."

* * *

They laid out their plans for excavating the Tablet in the next few hours. Digging for it takes a long time, but there's no huge rush, even though Dean is now a demon walking around in his own meat suit. The next morning they decided to start their plan. Dick Roman dug up the leviathan tablet in Iran, so it's the best shot they've got for the moment.

Dean wasn't very good at teleporting yet, being new to these types of powers, so instead of teleporting himself to Iran, he ended up in the other side of the room. Crowley helped him get over to Iran, while Gabriel teleported Sam and Castiel followed. It's been quite a few years since they defeated the leviathans, but there was still just a little bit of the remains from where they had dug. No doubt they had used expensive tools to do so, but all together they were two angels, two demons and one human. Surely they could do it on their own.

They were definitely out in the middle of nowhere. They stood near some mountain ranges where there was just barely any grass sticking up from the sandy dirt. Gabriel and Crowley were just about to start on some magic miracle digging mojo (if they happened to have a specific power for digging to the vault, the situation would have been a lot quicker. Unfortunately, they don't, so Sam had to do some research and find a spell to help them) when Castiel interrupted them.

"Wait," he said, putting his hand up to his temple and closing his eyes, like he was trying to listen to something he could barely hear. "They've found something in Metatron's office."

The others looked at him expectantly. "What'd they find?" Dean finally asked.

"I don't know, they wouldn't tell me. I have to go up." They blinked and Castiel was gone.

He reappeared back in Metatron's office in Heaven, where three angels were there to greet him. "Castiel," a female angel greeted, "thank you for coming right away."

"Hello Sophia," Cas greeted in return, "what did you find?"

"We found a tablet written by Metatron in a sealed painting on the wall." One of the angels beside her held the tablet in its clay casing, and the other held a painting of what appeared to be the Vault where the tablets were kept in, but had a blank spot in the middle of the painting where the tablet used to be.

"A Tablet?" Cas exclaimed, "Do you know what tablet it is?" He didn't care how they knew it was actually in the painting or how they got it out or why Metatron even had it.

"Unfortunately, no." The male angel holding the tablet – Oriel – answered.

"May I have it?" Cas requested urgently.

"Why do you need it?" he demanded.

Sophia glared at Oriel, but Cas didn't care. "My friend… if it's the right tablet, it might be able to help him."

"Dean Winchester," Oriel assumed. All the angels now knew how all of Castiel's actions were for or because of Dean Winchester. "You sacrifice so much for him… does he appreciate it, Castiel?"

"Oriel, enough." Sophia ordered.

Cas ignored Oriel. He didn't need to hear this speech from any angel ever again. "Give me the tablet."

Oriel gave in and handed Cas the tablet. As soon as it was in his hands, he was gone.

Gabriel and Crowley had already started digging while Sam and Dean watched. Cas appeared in between Sam and Dean.

"Metatron had a tablet," was the first thing he said. Crowley and Gabriel paused the digging and they all turned their attention to Cas. "He had a tablet hidden in his office."

"Are you serious?" Sam exclaimed, "is it the tablet we're looking for?"

"I don't know yet. We should go back to the bunker and check it out." Cas replied. They nodded and teleported back to the bunker. Dean was a little late since he teleported outside of the bunker, and had to zap back in.

"What if it's not the right tablet?" Crowley wondered aloud.

Gabriel shrugged. "Then we'll just have to see."

"I think it's most likely the Tablet of Eden. Metatron wouldn't have stolen a tablet unless he knew it would've been useful to us." Cas shared his theory. They just shrugged and nodded, hoping he was right.

Cas put the tablet on the table while Dean went to get tools to break off the clay. He came back with goggles for all five of them and began to break it open.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, new readers, I hope you liked this chapter. I feel like things might be moving a little too fast, but I don't have many ways to spread it out more besides adding in filler chapters, which are almost equally as annoying as filler episodes. Whatever.
> 
> ily all • please comment  
> -Cameron


	5. Jaelynna

_McCook, Nebraska_

"Come in, kids, breakfast is ready, and it's about to storm!" Mrs. Young called out to the children playing on the playground outside of the McCook Orphanage just as a clap of thunder echoed through the neighbourhood. All of the younger children from the orphanage ran in the door past Mrs. Young to get their breakfast except for one girl, who stayed on the swings. "Jael, come in for breakfast!" Mrs. Young called again, glancing up at the sky.

Jael didn't get off the swing. "Just five more minutes!" she pleaded.

Mrs. Young sighed. "Okay, Jael, you get five more minutes, but you better come in if it starts raining."

Jaelynna nodded and continued to swing on the old, rusty red swing set that creaked as she swung back and forth. More lightning flashed closer and closer the orphanage playground. Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the swing set, and a white light surrounded Jaelynna as she started to float upwards. Lightning kept striking her, and stopped as quickly as it started. Jaelynna collapsed back down onto the swing but stayed conscious. Her eyes shone bright yellow and images of the tablet flashed in her brain.

Without knowing what she was doing, she sneaked out of the playground when nobody was looking. Jael dug into her pockets until she pulled out a small wad of cash that she kept with her at all times. She quickly made her way to the nearest bus stop and got on the next bus. The bus driver gave her a look as she told him she was going to Lebanon, Kansas. "I'm going to meet my family there." She lied, and he decided not to say anything and just continue on driving. The lies came out of Jael's mouth without even knowing what she was saying. She was only  _eight._ She didn't know how she knew where to go, but she needed to find the thing she saw in her head.

It took about 3 ½ hours to get to Lebanon by bus. Jael got off the bus and her feet led her to a door in a hill.

* * *

Around early afternoon they heard a knock on the door. They had been expecting the prophet to come at some point, but they never expected her to be so quick. Castiel followed Sam to the door. When the door was opened, Sam looked down at a little eight-year-old African American girl.

"You must be Jaelynna Brook," Cas stated.

Jael ignored the fact that they knew her name. "You have something that I need." She said.

"Uh, come in," Sam stepped aside and allowed Jaelynna to walk down the stairs.

Dean and Gabriel stood up when they noticed them coming down the stairs. Crowley had left out of boredom, and probably had other things to do anyways. The Tablet sat on a cloth on the table.

"That," Jaelynna said, pointing at the tablet, "that's for me. It led me to it."

Sam walked over to the table with Jaelynna and let her look at the tablet. "Can you read it?" he asked.

Jaelynna squinted and brought her face close to the tablet. "Eden? Adam and Eve? Why do you have a stone about Adam and Eve?" she inquired, glancing back up at Sam, who was a good three feet taller than her.

"So you can read it?" Dean urged, wanting her to actually answer.

"Yes I can," she replied, still focused on the tablet. The mind-control thing that the tablet did to Jael was beginning to wear off.

The Winchesters and two Angels stood in a semi-circle a few feet behind Jaelynna. "What should we say to her?" Dean asked.

"We should tell her the truth." Cas suggested.

Sam's face went sour. "But she's just a kid! We'd be telling her that the monsters in her closet are real."

"They are," Dean chimed in, "she's going to be with us for awhile, why waste our time sugar coating it when we could just tell her? Better sooner than later."

Even Gabriel gave Dean an  _'are you serious?'_  look. "We should try to keep her away from a life like this." Dean groaned and gave in.

They all sat down at the table and offered her a seat. She still read the tablet with a hand on her head in frustration.

Gabriel pulled the Tablet away from her. "Alright, kiddo, let's get to know each other. My name is Gabriel, that's Dean-o, Sasquatch, and Cassie."

"Isn't that a girl's name?" Jaelynna asked.

Dean sighed, sick of Gabriel's nicknames. "Those are just Gabriel's stupid nicknames. I'm Dean, this is my brother Sam, and that's Cas."

"Isn't that still a girl's name?"

Cas suppressed a groan as Gabriel stifled a laugh. "My name is Castiel, but Cas is just a shortened version of my name." he explained to her. "What's your name?" he asked, even though they knew her name.

Jaelynna giggled. "My name is Jaleynna."

"Do you have a shortened version of your name like Cas, or do I have to make up a nickname?" Gabriel smiled at her. None of them had realized how good Gabriel was with children.

She giggled again. "Jael."

Sam leaned forward on his elbows. "Okay, Jael. Can you read the tablet?"

"Yeah," she replied, reaching out and wiggling her fingers towards the tablet that sat in front of Gabriel. He pushed it towards her and she pulled it closer so it was right in front of her on the table. "It says things about Adam and Eve, and the Garden of Eden. I read the bible, and this stuff ain't in there."

"What's it say?" Cas urged.

"A bunch of stuff I don't get," she replied, not even glancing up at them, "what is this thing?"

Nobody knew what to say. Jael looked at them expectantly. Dean didn't want to sugar coat the truth any more – the world was already sugar coated enough from the sad truth. "It's The Word of God."

Gabriel facepalmed and Sam casts an angry glace to Dean.

"Dean," Cas started.

"It's the truth, we shouldn't lie to her." Dean snapped back. Dean, who was angry, lost control of his eyes and they suddenly blinked entirely black.

Jael's mouth was gaped open and she covered her mouth with her hands. "What's wrong with your eyes?" she asked.

"Shit," Dean mumbled, hoping she didn't hear him. He blinked his eyes back to normal.

Sam sighed loudly. "I guess we have to tell her then."

They quickly gave her the 'monsters are real' talk and also the 'heaven and hell' talk. Jael's eyes were wide with interest. Of course, nobody liked hearing the hard truth of knowing the monsters are real, but she was excited when learning about angels. She didn't doubt them for a second – eight year olds would believe anything you said.

"Angels!" she exclaimed. "My momma gave me a bible when I was put up for adoption. I keep it by my bed at the orphanage. I read it everyday. Are the angels pretty?"

Gabriel and Cas smiled wider than they ever had in the past few weeks. "Well, that's for you to judge, sweetheart." Gabriel's smile was now partially a smirk.

"They sure are." Dean interrupted, winking at Cas subtly.

Cas shifted in his seat uncomfortably. Jael looked confused, but then looked back at Gabriel. "You're an angel?" Jael asked, voice getting quieter.

"Sure am, kiddo, and so is my brother here, Cas." Jael has never smiled so wide before. "Not all the angels are as nice as us, though. We'll keep you safe here, okay?" Jael nodded.

"Your eyes were black," she commented, pointing at Dean, "what are  _you_?"

Dean sighed. "I'm the opposite of an angel. I'm a demon. I wasn't always like this, I'm not _supposed_ to be like this, I should be dead." Dean growled, getting madder as he spoke. His eyes flickered from black to green again. He seemed to do it without meaning to when he was mad or embarrassed.

"Dean," Sam whispered, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. He then turned back towards Jael. "He was a human, but, well, some stuff happened and now he's a demon. We're trying to fix it, that's why we need you to translate the tablet for us."

Jael nodded, but then tilted her head and squinted her eyes a bit. "How come I can read it and you can't?"

"You're a prophet," Cas spoke up, "prophets are made to be God's voice on Earth. You have limited powers, but one of those is being able to decrypt the Word of God. In this case, it's the Tablet of Eden and Adam and Eve."

"What does decrypt mean?"

"To make a coded or unclear message intelligible."

"What does intelligible mean?"

"Compre – it means able to be understood."

The others had to nearly put a hand over their mouths to stop themselves from laughing.

"Do you have any more questions, Jael?" Sam asked her.

"Are you a human?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Anything else?"

"Nope."

"Okay, Jael, can you translate the tablet for us?" Sam pleaded.

"Yeah." Sam fetched a notebook and pencil for Jael to use. She headed the paper out of habit with a title in messy second-grade handwriting. "I'm hungry." She said after she had headed the paper.

Dean went to make lunch for all of them while Jaelynna studied the tablet. She didn't seem all that effected by the information she was just fed, as if she was already familiar with it and just being reminded.

However, Savannah and Joseph Brook were familiar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There, I gave you something to think about. If you were paying attention throughout this story, you might be able to figure out what exactly is going on. I hope you enjoy Jael. Being 8, she's also part comic relief for the story.  
> If any of you are interesting in some more information, Jaelynna was originally a 29 year old whose husband was in the military, a banker, currently writing a novel, and had a sister who lived in London. However, when looking at the prophet page on the Supernatural Wikia (I use it for majority of my research) I discovered the list of [the first generation of] prophets and that Metatron had prevented any more prophets to be activated. That was when I changed my plans and put Jaelynna to the second generation and made her a child. As I wrote down new information for her, I began to form a plan that you will see in later chapters.
> 
> Thank you for reading. Please leave a comment.
> 
> ily all  
> -Cameron


	6. Hunted

Savannah Masters and Joseph Brook both grew up as hunters. Savannah was on a solo hunt while Joseph was with his older sister. It was a pack of vampires in Seattle, Washington. Joseph was hiding out, waiting for the right time to strike the vamp, when Savannah jumped out and began attacking it. The vampire – male and extremely well built – was winning in their fight. He pushed her against a wall and Savannah's arms shook as she struggled to push him away.

Joseph then ran up behind the vamp and swung the machete through his neck, head falling off onto the cement, crimson blood pooling around the head and limp body. Savannah relaxed onto the brick wall in the shady alleyway and wiped away the splattered blood from her face.

"Are you alright?" Joseph asked, stepping over the body to get a closer look at her.

She let out a held-in breath. "Yeah. I'm assuming you're a hunter?"

"I am, I'm hunting a vampire pack with my older sister. You?"

"Same and solo. What's your name?"

"Joseph Brook."

"Savannah Masters." She held out her hand and he shook it. "Thanks for saving my life there."

Joseph smiled. "No problem."

After some cheesy pick up lines, a drink, and a few years of dating, Savannah Masters turned into Savannah Brook. It wasn't long after when she found out she was pregnant.

"What're we going to do?" she cried. They couldn't quit hunting, not with the situation they were in. However, they couldn't raise their child from birth to be a hunter like they were. Adoption was the only answer, but they wanted to be with their child as long as they could. They managed to lay low and raise their daughter for just over a year until their neglected past caught up. Savannah tucked a pocket bible into Jaelynna's belongings before kissing her forehead and giving her to the orphanage. In the bible, she left a note with a set of coordinates. The coordinates that led to their main hideout. If Jaelynna kept the note long enough, maybe she could someday return to her parents. To her, the note was just a jumble of numbers and didn't know what it meant. She just thought they were page numbers at first, so she read the pages in the bible. They didn't have any sort of connection, but Jaelynna didn't care. The numbers would make sense one day, she told herself. She kept the note. It was the only piece of her mother she had. Jaelynna memorized the numbers by the age of four.

* * *

"How'ya doing, Jael?" Sam asked, taking a seat next to her as she wrote in her notebook.

Jael looked up and rubbed her head. "The longer I look at it the more it hurts." She whined.

"Do you need me to get you anything? Water?" Sam offered. Jael nodded, and Sam got up to fetch her some ice water. He sat back down and handed her the drink. "What do you have so far?" He asked, glancing down at the notebook in front of her.

Jael handed him the notebook. Her handwriting was still developing but for the most part legible. "It says some stuff about Eden and pur- purgastory? What's that?"

"Purgatory?" Sam breathed, partially correcting her.

"Yeah. Purgatory. What is it?"

"It's… uh… it takes some explaining. It's a sealed off place for monsters." Sam quickly explained, dumbing down the definition. He then realized that Jael had given him the notebook and started to read it. "Oh my gosh," he whispered. He stood up, notebook in hand. "Guys!" he called to whoever could hear him in the bunker. "Come here, Jael found something!"

Soon enough, Dean, Gabriel and Castiel had come out from wherever they were hanging out. "What is it?" Dean demanded.

"Jael found some stuff about Purgatory," Sam explained, pointing at the notebook.

"Why does the tablet of Eden say stuff about Purgatory?" Cas wondered.

"Actually, Purgatory  _is_ Eden."

Gabriel took a step closer. "What? How?"

"Well," Sam started, "It explains how after Earth, God created the Garden of Eden, before any creatures were made. Once he made the leviathans, he decided they were too dangerous and locked them up in a sealed part of the Garden. Technically, Purgatory was part of Eden. Once Lucifer was let into and corrupted Eden, God sent it off of Earth. Lucifer let out all the leviathans to corrupt the rest of Eden. After that, God sealed off Purgatory so nothing could escape, but of course, Lucifer escaped before it was sealed. Only certain things have access in, including Reapers. It says here that they can also bring others in with them."

The others were silent to take in what Sam explained to them. "Wow," Gabriel said, "this is new information."

"Wait, so Cas and I were just locked up in a corrupted Eden?" Dean asked, taking in the information. Cas nodded.

"Also, fun fact: the leviathans named their ruler – Eve – after the original mother of the Garden." Sam read on.

"Wow." Gabriel repeated.

"Does this help in any way?" Dean urged, desperately wanting a cure. It angered him just wanting the cure so badly. Everything about the situation angered him. Having to wait for the answer, needing to have an answer in the first place. Not only was he impatient, but also he was drowning in self-hatred. What countered the hatred, however, was wanting to be  _better –_ at everything – than everyone. The Mark had already taken his soul – but had not yet fully corrupted it. He was becoming less and less human from the inside out.

"Sadly, no. Not yet, at least." Cas spoke. "We'll have to wait to see if it says anything about Cain and the Mark." Sam handed the notebook back to Jaelynna.

"Are you okay being out here by yourself? I just need to talk with them." He asked Jaelynna quietly. She nodded. "Yell if you need anything, we'll be down the hall."

The others took the hint and followed Sam to his bedroom. Sam sat at the foot of his bed, Cas took the chair at the table and Gabriel and Dean stood. "I don't want to overwork her," said Sam, openly concerned.

"She seems to be doing fine so far," Dean interrupted before Sam could say any more, "she's gotten through the first part in about an hour. I think the first one is the easiest for them; Kevin got the entire leviathan tablet done in one day."

"But Dean, she's  _eight_."

"Jael is strong and determined – I can see it. I do think that the first tablet is the easiest for her to decipher, but it is already causing her trouble. I agree with Sam, we shouldn't put too much pressure on her." Cas added.

"She doesn't seem to be too shocked by everything," Gabriel noted, "it's like she already knew about it all and she was just being reminded. She hasn't even had the ' _what happens when someone notices I'm missing_?' crisis yet."

"It is a little strange." Cas acknowledged.

"What happens to her when she's done though? Say the tablet gives us all the answers we need and we live happily ever after. Do we just drop her back off at her orphanage or what?" Dean asked.

"Usually if you find a missing child you get a reward. Let's pretend we found her and split the prize." Gabriel said with a smirk.

"Gabriel, this is serious." Sam scolded.

Gabriel lifted up his arms in defeat, "Just trying to lighten the mood."

By the time they were done discussing the problem and returned out to Jaelynna, she complained that she was tired. It was nearing ten o'clock, and to a second grader that's a weekend bedtime. Sam let her sleep in the last unoccupied bedroom. There wasn't much more that Jael had added to the tablet; just stuff about how the apple tree that Adam and Eve ate from remains protected in Purgatory.

Dean felt like watching a movie, so he borrowed Sam's laptop to watch Star Trek. Cas joined him on the couch where they sat [rather closely] with the laptop on both of their laps. Dean, in this moment, forgot about everything that was happening and enjoyed the couple hours of the film, sitting next to the angel he had grown to need and love.

Sam returned to his room, not necessarily tired, where Gabriel kept him company. When Gabriel wasn't being, well, a jerk, he was actually really funny and enjoyable to hang out with. Though Sam once had a burning hatred for the Trickster, he was starting to try to forgive him. Even though the tricks he played on them were pretty sick, Sam understood that Gabriel had a reason for them. Still, he could've just told them.

Gabriel left Sam's room so he could sleep just as Dean and Cas were finishing the movie. They were leaning against each other, watching the credits roll down the screen. Gabriel smiled and left them alone.

Dean and Cas sat there for a while after the movie ended, not saying much of anything. After a little bit they started up the next Star Trek. Cas offered for Gabriel to sit and watch, but he declined. While Cas and Dean marathoned Star Trek all night, Gabriel read through some books in the bunker's library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! Expect a filler chapter next. Wow, rereading this is weird, it's been awhile since I wrote this. I'm 3 chapters ahead.  
> Okay, I forgot to mention this last chapter (when it was appropriate.) I was interested in the meaning of Jaelynna's name. Jaelyn means 'supplanter.' Supplanter: "to take the place of (another) as through force, scheming, strategy, or the like" (Dictionary . com). 'Na' can mean 'no' or 'not.' Together, Jaelynna means 'to not replace.' Immediately, I thought of Kevin. To not replace Kevin. I thought this was really - what's the word - pretty? Interesting? I don't know, but you get the point.
> 
> Well yay, now you know more about the Brooks. 
> 
> ily all • please comment  
> -Cameron


	7. Non-Sleepover

Dean felt so empty. He felt as if there was nothing inside of him, yet he also felt heavy. He felt like the safes in hotel rooms; empty, heavy, cold, and forgotten. Everything angered him. Everything that was annoying – all the flaws, everything that was not right – stuck out like a sore thumb.

Cain was like this when he was first a demon. It took him quite a long time to get used to everything that came with the Mark.

Dean had only been a demon for a few days, and he could be a demon for a million years and never accept or get used to it.

Some people had a neutral effect on him, like Jael. They had only just met, so she didn't have much of an imprint on him yet. Gabriel was a mix between neutral and negative, considering their past and how he's acting now. Sam was a mix between neutral and positive, though there was still a smudge of negative in there somewhere. He had an undying love for his brother, but there was this unknown source of needing to be more powerful than him.  _"This is a dictatorship."_ Castiel was mainly a positive. Everyone else just gave energy to his burning fire, but a single touch from Cas was like pouring water onto the fire, cooling him down for the time being.

Dean spent the entire night next to Castiel. Demons didn't really get tired. Sure, they got exhausted or worn out, but never sleepy or tired. Perk? Possibly. Gabriel disappeared into Sam's room, so Cas joined Dean on the couch with Sam's laptop and watched all of the Star Trek movies. They had to both get comfortable with the laptop on both their laps, which required them to lean against each other. Not that they minded. Cas picked up some references that had been placed in his head by Metatron. Gosh, by now, Cas wishes he could erase that from his memory. He'd prefer to learn them on his own just the way he is now: watching movies with Dean.

Every once and awhile Cas would pause it to ask Dean a question, who would go into full detail to answer. Dean could practically hear his brother: " _And you call me a nerd."_

After they had sat through the credits of the first movie, Dean said, "Why don't we start the second one, eh angel?" His grin was almost sinister. Cas tensed up slightly at the nickname.  _Angel._  Hearing it come out of Dean's mouth in that fashion sent shivers up his spine. However, he didn't have much time to react (let alone say anything about it) because Dean had already started up the sequel.

"Would you like to watch?" Cas twisted his head to look at Gabriel, who was walking past them.

"No thanks, Sparkles. Maybe another time." Gabriel smirked and walked towards the library.

The library was stocked from ceiling to floor with books about anything supernatural you could imagine. However, one wall consisted of fiction chapter books, which caught Gabriel's attention. He picked up a copy of  _1984_ by George Orwell and began to read.

Earlier, Gabriel had spent time talking to Sam in his room. Well, more like gossiping. About Dean and Cas. After seeing them snuggle together on the couch, the first thing Gabriel said once they were out of earshot was "They're so cute, but God, the tension is killing me."

Sam laughed, throwing his head back. "Oh my gosh, Gabe, I'm pretty sure they're the only ones who don't realize it." Sam's face suddenly went straight, remembering Gabriel's expression when Metatron called him Gabe. "I mean, I can call you that, right?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, sure." Gabriel responded. The only people who ever called him Gabe were his older brothers and his Father, Sam now added to the list.

For about two hours they gossiped about Cas and Dean's probable relationship until Sam decided to hit the hay.

* * *

_Barking. Loud, vicious barking and howling came from somewhere far away. Jaelynna wailed, not enjoying the horrible sound. Muffled yelling came from the other room._

_"Just take her, Savannah! We don't know if it's going to get her as well, or you. It'll be better."_

_A few moments later, Savannah walked into Jaelynna's room, tears staining her caramel coloured cheeks. She picked her up and calmed her down as she gathered up Jaelynna's belongings. Savannah grabbed a pen and notepad hastily and wrote down two set of numbers: 40° 34' 57", -97° 44' 49". She placed the notecard into the small pocket bible she had bought for Jaelynna and shoved it into the duffel bag._

_With the duffel bag hanging from her shoulder and Jaelynna in her arms, Savannah rushed out to the living room where Joseph stood surrounded by salt circles and devil's traps. She kissed him tenderly on the lips and gave him an awkward hug as they exchanged goodbyes._

_"I'll be back soon, baby. Don't let them get you until I'm back."_

The very first memory was stored in the back of Jael's mind. It was only brought to the surface when she was asleep; a hazy, rushed memory. It was four in the morning, and everything seemed quiet even though there was currently only one person asleep. At the moment, Sam was sleeping a dreamless slumber, Gabriel was a few pages away from finishing  _1984_ and Cas and Dean were almost done watching  _The Voyage Home_. Jael lay back down. Whenever she couldn't sleep, she'd repeat the numbers in her head until she drifted off.  _Forty, thirty-four, fifty-seven, negative ninety-seven, forty-four, forty-nine…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a fun, short chapter to write. I hope you like it!
> 
> ily all  
> -Cameron


	8. Ashes

During the morning, the tablet revealed nothing quite useful just yet. It explained the story of Cain and Abel after learning little information about Adam and Eve. The tablet briefly told Cain’s story; Cain discovered that his brother Abel had been talking with Lucifer, so he made a deal. Cain would give himself to Lucifer so Abel’s soul would go to Heaven. Lucifer agreed, however, Cain himself needed to take down his brother, so Cain created the First Blade from the jawbone of an animal and killed his brother. After the death of Abel, Lucifer gave him the Mark of Cain, binding him to the blade. Most thought that Cain killed his brother out of jealousy, but it was an act to save his brother in the long run. Also, the tablet read that these actions lead to their decedents being the vessels of Michael and Lucifer. This piece of information caught their eye.

Gabriel, who had been reading the notebook over Jael’s shoulder, called for Sam and Dean. “You guys might want to check this out.” Sam and Dean came over and read over the information. “Now you have some sort of source to why you guys were the true vessels.”

“Looks like the tables have turned…” Dean mumbled and stomped away. Sam and Gabriel stayed with Jael to keep her company.

“It’s around lunchtime, do you want anything to eat, kiddo?” Gabriel asked.

Jael nodded. “Yes please. Can I have a PB&J?”

“Sure thing.” Gabriel got up and headed towards the kitchen to make her lunch.

Sam noticed how Jael rubbed her head and eyes as she translated the tablet. “You know, Jael, you can take a break. I know how hard it is to read that thing, we… we knew someone else who could, and he didn’t treat himself all that well at first. I want to make sure you don’t overwork yourself.”

Jael nodded, understanding why Sam was saying this. “I won’t, but I need to translate it. It’s me for a reason.” She paused, and then hesitantly asked, “Who was he?”

Sam took a deep breath. “Kevin. Kevin Tran. He was a prophet, like you. He was with us for a couple years… he was like family. Unfortunately he…. he was killed.” Sam initially wanted to blame himself. _Me. I killed him._ Then he remembered how it wasn’t exactly him; it was Gadreel. “It was an angel. His name was Gadreel.”

For a moment, Jael looked mortified. “An angel? Why did and angel kill him?”

Sam didn’t exactly know how to answer. Gadreel didn’t have the best history, but in the two days before he died he had helped them tremendously. “Like Gabe said a couple days ago, not all angels are as nice as him and Cas. But Gadreel wasn’t bad near the end. Here, think of it like a video game, or a movie. Gadreel was the evil henchman of the big boss, and because of that he did some pretty bad things. But towards the end, he turned against his kind to help us win, and we couldn’t have done it without him. Even though he might seem like a minor character, he played a big part in our movie. We never really forgave him for Kevin, but we couldn’t have thanked him enough for helping us.”

Jael nodded, understanding what Sam meant. She didn’t need to ask any more questions. Gabriel then came in carrying a plate with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in one hand and a glass of ice water in the other. He set it down in front of her and she immediately shoved the sandwich into her mouth. “This is good, thank you.” Jael said once she had swallowed her bite.

“No problem. I added just a bit of sugar.” Gabriel replied, winking at her. “So, Jael, what do you plan to do once you’re done with the tablet?”

Jael took a sip of water and set the glass back on the table, contemplating over what to say. She hadn’t thought much about that. She could go back to the orphanage, or take advantage of the situation. “Well, maybe I could find my parents.”

Sam and Gabriel’s mouths dropped. “How are you going to do that?” Sam asked.

Jael hesitated for a moment. “Well, when I was put up for adoption, my momma gave me a little Bible. Inside the bible there was a note. It’s just a bunch of numbers and I don’t know what they mean, but it’s from my mom and I want to find out what it is.”

“Do you remember the numbers?” Gabriel asked.

“Yeah. Forty, thirty-four, fifty-seven, negative ninety-seven, forty-four, forty-nine.”

“They sound like coordinates,” Sam commented, “maybe when we’re done I can look them up for you. But you do eventually have to go back to the orphanage, you know that, right?”

Jael nodded. “Yes, and thank you.”

Gabriel looked at what Jael was wearing. “You don’t have your stuff, do you? Want me to get it? Where is the orphanage?”

“McCook, Nebraska.” Jael answered. Her jaw fell to the floor when Gabriel disappeared and returned with her things within seconds.

Suddenly, Crowley appeared on the other side of the table. “Hello boys,” he greeted, and then noticed Jaelynna sitting in between them, “who is this? I’ve seen you’ve gotten a child. How was the honeymoon, by the way?” he joked.

Gabriel glared at him. “Oh shut up, you street vender. She’s a prophet. Where have you been anyways?”

“Busy,” Crowley snapped back, “there’s quite a commotion down there after the big news.”

“Big news?” Inquired Sam.

“New Knight of Hell Dean Winchester. Where is he, anyways?”

“Probably with Cas.” Gabriel stated. Sam snorted.

“Anyways, what does that thing say?” Crowley asked, nodding towards the tablet. Gabriel and Sam quickly explained to him about Purgatory and Eden and briefly mentioned the extra information. “Alright, why don’t you introduce me to your prophet then?” He requested after taking in the facts stated by the tablet.

Sam sighed. “This is Jaelynna. Jael, this is Crowley – King of Hell. He’s with us, though, don’t worry.”

Jael nodded and focused her glance at Crowley. “Hello.”

“Hello, Jael. Nice to meet you.”

* * *

 

A few hours later, Jael stopped writing in her notebook and looked up. Sam, Gabriel and Dean had gone off God knows where in the bunker, Crowley was wandering around inspecting everything (he only really knew the main room and the dungeon), and Castiel sat with Jael.

“Cas?”

Cas looked up from  _1984_  – Gabriel told him to read it. “Yes?”

“What were you looking for in the tablet?” She asked, voice quiet.

“A cure for the Mark of Cain. Why, did you find it?” Cas replied urgently.

Jael nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

Cas quickly excused himself to go fetch the others, who were in Sam’s room. Crowley was wandering around the library. When Cas told them Jael found something, they practically ran out.

“What does it say?” Dean demanded.

Cas picked up Jaelynna’s notebook and read through what was written down. “There are three trials, just like on the other tablets,” he explained, “she only has one so far. Each step is meant to make you more human, since it cures off both the mark and demonic soul. The first trial resembles life and peace.”

“Well what is it?” Dean urged.

Cas hesitated. “The First Blade must be destroyed with Holy Fire and the ashes spread on a tree.”

All eyes landed on Dean. Everyone knew how difficult it was for Dean to stay away from the first blade, and now that he was a demon it was even harder.

“Will you be able to do that, Dean?” Sam asked.

Dean sent him an ‘ _are you serious_ ’ face. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I? I want to get rid of that stupid blade just as much as you do.”

“Alright then, let’s get to it.” Gabriel said, standing up.

“I’ll go get the blade.” Dean said, and before Sam could object, turned around and walked towards his room. The First Blade still sat on the bedside table where he last left it – nothing wrapped around it. Slowly, Dean reached down and wrapped his hand around the handle. Immediately he felt power surging through him at the touch of the blade. A wave of peace swept over his anger and his feeling of need came rushing through his veins. The blade made him feel so  _good._ The blade was a positive.

Dean then remembered why he grabbed the blade in the first place and returned back to the others and went outside. Gabriel invited Jael to join them, so she followed them. Sam opened the trunk of the Impala and grabbed a jug of Holy Oil and a lighter. The six of them stood in a circle in the middle of the road. They stared at Dean expectantly.

“Dean,” Sam started, “put the blade down.”

Dean stared at the blade in his hand as he lifted his arm. In this moment, the blade felt the most powerful in his grasp. He could feel his pulse all throughout his body, heartbeat pounding in his head. If it was even possible to feel his eyes go black, it was now. Dean’s arm shook, fingers going white from gripping the blade so hard. “No.” he muttered. So much power… too much power. It gave him a cursed feeling of peace so strong that it was violent.

“Come on, Dean, we don’t have time to make a Lord of the Rings parody. Just drop the blade!” Sam pleaded.

It was _his_  blade; nobody could take it away from him. “No, it’s mine!” Dean growled. By now, his entire body shook with rage. He was fire: Mark burning and dark eyes glowing. Sam was about to protest again, and Dean was on his toes ready to lunge.

Suddenly, the fire was extinguished. Around his shoulder, to be exact. Dean stopped and noticed the hand on his shoulder. He stared at the hand. He knew that hand. His eyes ventured up the arm and to the face. He knew that face. That was Castiel.

“Dean, put the blade down.” Cas demanded, voice firm.

The words echoed around in his head. When the others said it, it only fueled his fire and angered him more. When Cas said it, it was like someone was slowly pouring water, telling him to stop. The gentle touch calmed him down, giving him peace similar to what the blade gave him but much less violent. The pounding in his head left and eyes returned to normal.  _Put the blade down._

Dean heard a noise. A loud  _clang_ that made him look away from Cas. The blade was on the ground.

Cas broke the connection.

Dean slowly unfazed and looked back up at the others with a loss of words. They stared back at him with wide eyes, but they were beginning to relax. Dean realized what he did. He lost control. Again. He almost slaughtered someone. Again. Words tumbled around in his mind until something spilled out.

“I- I’m sorry, uh, we- no. I… I’m going back in.” Dean turned around and walked back into the bunker, Cas’s hand slipping off his shoulder.

The five of them stood there in a thick silence until Cas said “I should go talk to him,” and disappeared inside the bunker as well.

“Well, I guess we should start anyways.” Sam said, pouring holy oil onto the blade.

“Do you think it matters if Dean does it or not?” Crowley asked.

“I don’t think so,” Jael replied, “it didn’t say anything about that.”

Sam nodded and threw the lit lighter onto the blade, sending it up in flames.

* * *

 

Cas found Dean in his room, sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. “Dean?”

Dean brought up his head and made eye contact with Cas. “Why are you here?”

“I wanted to see if you were okay.” Cas said, sitting down next to Dean.

Dean shook his head. “I’m not okay. I just want this goddamned thing off of me.”

Cas took a deep breath and looked at Dean. “I know, and we’re trying. We just have to wait.” Dean sighed and mumbled something about not wanting to wait. “You’re almost there, Dean.” Cas put his hand back on Dean’s shoulder.

Dean closed his eyes and put his hand over Cas’s, breathing deeply. Opening his eyes, he said, “Did you really want to stay human?”

“Yes.”

Dean’s eyebrows creased together. “Why?”

“For many reasons,” Cas started, “I’m tired of heaven. Jimmy Novak is no longer in this body, he died long ago. This is now mine. I’m not an angel anymore, even with my grace. I figured that things would work out better if I were a human. When Metatron told me you were dead, I decided that I just wanted to just be an angel. Not human, not Commander. Why be human when there’s no reason anymore?”

Dean was shocked by the answer. “So you’re saying that the reason you wanted to be human was me?” Though Dean had heard this information from Metatron (even though it was in a different manner), he didn’t know if it was true or not.

Cas looked down at his lap and focused back on Dean. “Yes. In the long run… it always seems to be you, Dean Winchester.”

Dean smiled and even managed a small laugh. “And for you, Castiel, I will keep trying.”

* * *

 

They returned outside to Jael, Crowley, Sam and Gabriel who were watching the blade burn. It takes a couple hours for bones to burn, but is taking a lot less time because of the Holy Fire. It was about halfway done. Eventually Jael went back inside out of boredom, accompanied by Gabriel. Once the blade was burnt into fragments, Sam stamped out the fire and ground the weakened fragments of bone into ash. Crowley, Sam, Dean and Cas gathered the ash in their hands and found an oak tree on the hill behind the bunker. Together, they spread the ash around the roots of the tree. Once the ashes were all spread, they seemed to soak into the dirt like water. Dean let out a yelp and grabbed his arm over the mark. He clenched his teeth as he pulled up his sleeve, revealing the mark glowing on his arm. Intense pain shot through his whole body, causing him to lose his balance and thump back against the tree. Sam and Cas rushed over to his side to steady him. Crowley zapped them all inside the bunker.

“Is he okay?” Gabriel asked once he saw them.

“The trials are having the same effects on Dean as they did to Sam.” Cas explained. Gabriel only knew the little that Cas told him about the trials and how they affected Sam. Little did they know that they affect Dean a little differently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, the first trial is done! 
> 
> I hope you liked this chapter. The next one will be up soon.
> 
> ily you all  
> -Cameron


	9. Cursed Souls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Abuse-ish

**_It's been a long time, Dean._ **

The voice was smooth, calm, and far too familiar for Dean's liking. He was alone in his room. It was three in the morning.

**_I told you I'd see you in five years… though this isn't what I was expecting._ **

What was five years ago? 2009. Dean thought back to 2009. That was when they were dealing with the apocalypse. Suddenly, Dean remembered; going to 2014 and discovering the future world – infected with the Croatoan disease and about to be destroyed by Lucifer.  _"See you in five years, Dean."  
_ "Lucifer…" Dean muttered, "No, you're in hell. You're locked up in your cage, how are you in my mind?"

**_You're my new and last Night of Hell, Dean, and you're trying to take that away. I'm doing what I can to stop that._ **

"No. This is all in my head-"

**_Well, yes. Can you see me? Of course I'm in your head. Just because you can't see me, though, doesn't mean I'm not actually here._ **

No. No no no no no. This isn't supposed to happen, this isn't apart of the deal. The Mark, the Blade, the demon. Now that they were trying to rip apart the package, Lucifer makes a guest appearance inside of Dean's mind to stop them. "What do you want?" Dean growled.

**_I want you to do as I say._ **

"No. No way I'm listening to you." Dean retorted.

 ** _Yes, you will._** His voice was calm but strict, saying each word slowly and carefully.  ** _You are going to obey all of my commands, because I am your ruler, your king, and you are my knight in shining armour._** There was a pause, and Dean swore he heard him chuckle.  ** _And, oh, the things I could do to you if you misbehaved. I can twist and pull and mutilate your mind until your screams can be heard from miles away. So don't you_** **dare** ** _even think about it._** Dean stood there; unable to speak- he literally couldn't say anything no matter how hard he tried.  ** _Now, Dean, go pick up that knife on your desk._** On Dean's desk sat a small silver knife. Before he knew what he was doing, Dean walked over to his desk and picked up the knife.  ** _Now cut your palm for me._** The knife tip pierced into the rough skin of Dean's palm and thick blood oozed out of the cut. Dean barely cringed.  ** _Good…_**

Lucifer had him under control, whether it was just the mark corrupting him or actually the devil. It was just like Naomi and Castiel, but far more destructive.

**_As long as you follow my rules, you don't have to be afraid of me, Dean. What do you think I'm going to do?_ **

For the next few hours of the night Lucifer talked and talked on in Dean's mind. He was riling him up, trying to get him angry with the others, to stop them from curing Dean. If Dean was already angrier than usual, it'd be a lot easier to convince him to do something about it.  ** _I know the fire you feel, for anger and need. You need to let it out, Dean. It won't do well for your cursed, corrupted soul. This broken gift of yours has so much more potential than you think, and they're limiting it, especially Sam and Jaelynna. You need to stop them._**

Dean had told him many times to shut up, but sometimes he'd say something interesting and Dean couldn't help but listen. Finally, around seven in the morning, Dean decided to get up and eat something. Now that he was a demon he didn't necessarily have to eat anymore, but he didn't mind drowning himself with alcohol and one of the muffins from the gas station. The other demon and two angels noticed that Dean was on edge that morning, but at least not in any more pain from the trial yesterday. Satan was rather polite when it came to not talking while others were.

"I heard you talking rather loudly in your room last night," Cas commented, "who were you talking to?"

 ** _Tell them you were talking to yourself._** "I was talking to myself, just thinking aloud." Dean replied coolly.

Jael woke up an hour and a half later, and after being served breakfast by Gabriel, started working on the tablet again.

 ** _You need to stop her._** Dean didn't do anything. He was standing against the doorway to the kitchen while the others greeted Sam as he awoke and came sleepwalking out of his room.  ** _She's still translating the tablet, you need to stop her!_** Dean still did nothing. "No," he said firmly under his breath so nobody could hear him.

Suddenly, Dean yelled in pain. His head felt like it was being bashed through and his brain being pulled like taffy. Consciousness was digging its way down to the bottom of Dean's mind. He grabbed at his head and swayed around, losing his balance. His vision was limited with the darkness spreading in from the corners. The others came rushing over and Sam and Cas grabbed either side of Dean, keeping him up. "No!" he yelled through his screams of anguish. He still had his hands firmly gripped on his head. Sam grabbed him underneath his arms across his chest and Cas grabbed his waist. Dean yelled again, and finally gave into the pain and darkness and fell limp in their arms. Cas and Sam carried Dean to his bed and got him ice.

"What was that?" Sam asked after the scene was over.

"I don't know, it could possibly be side effects from the first trial, but the pain before was in his arm. This appears to be from his head." Cas explained, glancing down at an unconscious Dean.

"They might be worse than we thought," Gabriel assumed. They nodded in agreement.

Dean was only unconscious for fifteen minutes, and during the darkness he heard only one thing:  ** _Do not disobey me again._**

"What happened, are you okay?" Sam asked once Dean was awake.

 ** _Lie._** Dean rubbed his head. "Uh, I don't know. Must've been a migraine or something. I feel sick, I don't think I can complete the trials."

Sam, Gabriel and Cas (Crowley was with Jael) stared at him, astonished. "You have to complete the trials, Dean. It's not gonna kill you." Gabriel defended.

"I can't…" Dean mumbled, pushing the ice pack harder on his head.

"Dean, you said you'd keep trying for me. You can do this." Cas stared into Dean's empty eyes. Sam and Gabriel looked at Cas, then at Dean, then at each other, slightly confused as to when he had said that to Cas.

Dean closed his eyes. "Okay." He yelped again as pain shot through his head again.  _Kill me. Why don't you just kill me now?_

**_Don't you think that'd be a little… redundant?_ **

* * *

Jaelynna continued to translate the second trial, while Sam and Cas kept Dean in his room. He protested and yelled through the dimming pain that he was fine and could leave, but they didn't let him out, knowing he was lying. They only let him out when Crowley came with news of the second trial.

Jael handed Sam the notebook and he read the second trial. "This trial represents a sense of humanity," he explained, "you have to eat an apple from the sacred apple tree in the Garden of Eden."

Dean scrunched his nose. "So I have to go back to Purgatory, find the tree and eat an apple?" There was still pain lingering in his head, increasing whenever Dean said something Lucifer didn't like. "How do we get back into Purgatory, and how do we find the tree?" Dean groaned as the pain increased.  ** _Do not complete these trials._**

Sam stood contemplating Dean, and then said, "You're not well enough to go."

Dean stood up, a bit wobbly. "Yes I am, let me go!" Dean protested like a child. A zap of pain like lightning coursed through his body and he collapsed back down onto his seat.

"I'll go and bring you back an apple." Sam decided, determined to not let Dean go in his state.

"Whoa there, Sasquatch, nobody is going alone. I know the Garden like the back of my hand, so I'm going too." Gabriel interrupted. Sam agreed and they decided to summon a reaper to take them to purgatory.

Sam painted a reaper's trap on the floor while Gabriel, Cas and Crowley gathered a crucifix, gold ore, hemlock, mace and blood.

**_You can't let them do it, Dean. Stop them._ **

Sam had already started summoning the reaper. " _O theris tes, caleo se cai deo."_

Dean made a feeble attempt to attack Sam. "What the hell, man?" he asked, pushing Dean back into his seat. Dean was weak-minded and couldn't function as efficiently.

A reaper appeared within a few seconds. He was a tall, slender young male with spiky blonde hair. He was rather irritated with being summoned into a reaper's trap. Dean made another attempt to stop them, which Sam reacted with, "Jesus, Dean, what's wrong with you?" and dragged him back to his room before continuing.

It took a long while to convince the reaper to let them in, but he eventually gave in after some bribing and a teeny bit of threatening. Once the reaper disappeared with Gabriel and Sam, Dean blacked out again from Lucifer's abuse.

* * *

Gabriel grimaced when he first got a good look at Purgatory. This was once the beautiful Garden he would walk through with his brothers and sisters. Now, it was corrupted, overgrown, dark and monster-infested. Sam noticed Gabriel's pained expression. "It's hard to imagine Dean and Cas spent an entire year in here."

Gabriel agreed but didn't acknowledge it. "I used to walk in Eden with my siblings. It was beautiful. This is… I don't even know." Gabriel trailed off and looked back at Sam, who showed concern. Just being in the place brought your mood down, even for someone who almost always at least acted like he was happy. "However, I do know where the apple tree would be. Didn't the tablet say it was protected?" Sam nodded. "Alright then," Gabriel studied the ground and his surroundings, trying to get a grip on where he was, "it should be… this way." Gabriel weaved his way through trees and jungle. The reaper agreed to follow them but could not help them.

Almost out of nowhere, two vampires jumped out and began attacking them. Gabriel got out his angel blade and stabbed and sliced at the vampire that jumped him.

"Slice off its head!" Sam called, who was fighting off the other one, relying on his strength. Gabriel swung his blade and did his best to slice through its neck (the blade was made mainly for stabbing) and its head fell to the ground after a bit of struggling. Gabriel turned his attention to the other vampire attacking Sam and cut off its head.

"You okay?" he asked.

Sam nodded, wiping the blood off his face. "Thanks."

"No problem. You can have my blade, I have my powers." Gabriel insisted, handing Sam the blade.

Sam narrowed his eyes at him in slight confusion, but took the blade. "Why didn't you use your powers while fighting the vampires?"

"I wasn't thinking!" Gabriel defended, and then laughed. "I guess you could say it was the-" he stopped to chuckle, " _heat of the moment._ "

"Oh my god." Sam turned away and laughed. Suddenly he stopped to face Gabriel. "Wait, can't you just zap us to the tree?"

Gabriel face-palmed. "Yes. Yes, I forgot." He couldn't help but start laughing again.

"How do you forget about your wings?"

"Hey! I just got them back a week ago after spending months without them." He defended. Sam just shook his head and told him to take them there. Gabriel grabbed Sam's wrist and suddenly they stood right in front of the apple tree.

Unlike the rest of Purgatory, the apple tree stood bright and alive, almost glowing with light. The large, green leaves were polka dotted with rich crimson apples. Gabriel sighed and smiled sadly. The whole garden used to look like this.

"This is the tree Adam and Eve ate the apple from?" Sam breathed, admiring the view.

"The one and only." Gabriel replied, stepping closer to the tree and searching for a low branch with an apple. One hung a few feet above his head, and after trying to jump and grab it multiple times, turned to Sam with a pathetic look on his face, even though he was about to burst into laughter at the same time.

Sam laughed. "How adorable." He joked, walking over and reaching up above Gabriel's head to grab the apple. "C'mon, let's get out of here."

The reaper was waiting casually against a nearby tree and took them back to earth.

They arrived back at the bunker thirty minutes after they left.

"He's awake, but just barely. He keeps talking like he's having a conversation with someone that isn't there. I tried to say something but I don't even think he knows I'm there." Cas explained hurriedly once Sam and Gabriel returned. "I noticed that whenever he tried to say no or refuse to something he'd scream and grab his head in pain. I try to help him but nothing works."

"He appears to be mentally unstable." Crowley commented from the other side of the room.

"Can you heal him?" Sam pleaded.

"Unfortunately, no. Just like when you were doing the trials, he is damaged in a way I cannot heal. We just have to complete the trials, and hopefully it will repair him." Cas responded.

Sam just sighed and walked to Dean's room. Dean lay on his bed, not saying anything. Dean looked over when he noticed Sam. "Sammy," he said hoarsely, "you got the apple."

 ** _Do not eat that apple, Dean._** Lucifer's voice warned in his head. He had a way of speaking that wasn't strict but so calm and smooth that it was untrustworthy and threatening. It gave Dean shivers up his spine.

"I did," Sam replied, looking at the large apple in his hand, "ready to eat?"

Dean shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, no. I- I'm not hungry."

"Seriously Dean? We went to freaking Purgatory to get this apple for you. You're eating it." Sam replied, obviously tired of Dean's excuses.

Dean sealed his mouth shut when Sam tried to shove the apple in Dean's face. He knocked the apple out of Sam's hand and it flew across the bed and rolled onto the floor.

Sam retrieved the apple. "I will shove this apple down your throat if I have to. Don't you want to be cured?"

 ** _No. You don't. Tell him you don't._** "No…" Dean said quietly, "I don't."

Sam was taken aback by his answer. "What?"

"I don't want to be cured." Dean repeated, louder.

Sam didn't understand. Just a day before Dean would do anything to be human again, and now he's doing anything to make sure that doesn't happen. Sam's face hardened. "Yes you are. We started these trials, and we are finishing them, whether you want it or not."

Sam left to go retrieve someone to help him to make Dean eat the apple.

"Dean won't eat the damn apple." Sam announced to whoever was listening.

"What?" Gabriel said, shocked. "I mean, I knew he didn't like healthy food, but-"

"He said he didn't want to be cured." Sam interrupted.

The room was silent.

"This isn't him…" Cas mumbled, "we need to do something."

"Yeah, like shoving the apple down his throat." Sam stated.

Crowley stood up. "I can help with that."

Crowley took the apple to the kitchen and cut it into slices, taking a small one with him to Dean's room. "Hold him down." He instructed.

Crowley grabbed Dean by his hair and pulled his head back, causing his mouth to open. He put his other hand firmly against Dean's lower lip and chin, holding his mouth open in place. He held the apple slice in-between his fingers and pushed it into Dean's open mouth, then closed his jaw violently, making Dean chew the apple slice.

"Swallow the apple," Crowley hissed.  ** _Don't swallow._** Dean didn't swallow. "Don't make me put my hands in your mouth." Dean still didn't swallow. "Alright then." Crowley opened Dean's mouth and stuck his hand in his mouth. He pushed the half-chewed apple slice down into Dean's throat. Dean thrashed around but Sam held him down against the bed. He choked as Crowley pulled his hand out and wiped it on Dean's shirt. "Okay, Squirrel, unless you want to choke, I'd swallow that apple."

Dean swallowed the apple.

Crowley and Sam got off of him. The Mark on Dean's arm started to glow again and he gripped his arm, hissing through the pain. It eventually died down.  
They completed the second trial.

"Sorry about that, Dean." Sam said, kneeling down next to the bed. However, Dean didn't hear him.

 ** _You didn't do what I told you to, Dean._** Dean felt a sudden pain in his jaw as if someone had punched him.  ** _You need to control them._** Dean was winded as he felt a kick to his stomach and chest.  ** _Get rid of them._** A shoe on his forearm, crushing his bone. Dean screamed and grabbed his arm. "My arm!" he cried, "he broke my arm!"

Sam steadied Dean and grabbed his arm, which wasn't broken at all. "Dean! Who? Who's hurting you?"

Dean kept yelling, which attracted Cas and Gabriel to the room. "Did you do it?" Cas asked.

"Yes, but he's saying someone broke his arm!" Sam exclaimed.

"Is his arm broken?" Gabriel asked.

"No, his arm's fine! Someone is doing something to him."  
Dean hissed and yelled. Tears streamed down his face. "Stop! Please! I'll do it!"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been so excited to upload this chapter! Honestly, this idea was kind of on the spot and it turned out working really well. I included a lot of parallels from the episode The End (5x4), see if you can spot them (there will also be more in the future). Also, the name of this chapter was actually the original story name. I was stuck between Cursed Souls and Broken Gift. I had it as Cursed Souls for the first chapter or two I wrote until I changed it. At first I was going to wait a day or two before uploading this chapter when I realized I was actually stuck on chapter twelve... yeah. So I hope you like this chapter, and the ending should give you something to think about. This fic should only have about 13-14 chapters, just letting you know. Anyways, please comment your thoughts on this chapter, I'd love to see what you guys think of this.  
> Also, I somehow ended up starting another fic last night. It's a High School Band AU that starts out with sabriel but will also have destiel. I'll let you know when I post it, though it won't be until I've finished writing this one.
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	10. Devil's Trap

Around 2 AM Dean was regaining his strength. The pain was leaking out of his head and body and he returned to normal.

**_I have decided to be nice and heal you, but only so you may do me a favour._ **

Dean sat up on his bed, relieved that he could actually do so. Just hours before he was too weak to talk or move. Though they couldn't do much to help him, the others sat with him until the early evening when Sam and Jael decided they wanted something to eat. Gabriel had managed to convince Jael to take a break for a day or two so she wouldn't exhaust herself. Sam fixed up a salad for himself and Jael (to which Gabriel wrinkled his nose and called him a rabbit) and they all sat down at the table to discuss Dean.

"Someone is hurting him," Sam started, "after he ate the apple, Dean said someone broke his arm. Whatever it is must be causing the rest of his pain, too."

"It is normal for him to have painful side effects from the trials – as you did – but this seems far too severe to be from the trials." Cas added.

"What's hurting him might also be controlling him, " Gabriel said, scooting back and putting his feet on the table. Sam swallowed a bite of lettuce and slapped Gabriel's shoes.

"Get your feet of the table, we're eating."

Gabriel groaned out a "fine" before folding his legs back under the table. "As I was saying, something might be controlling him as well. The last thing he said today was "I'll do it," meaning someone must be inflicting pain in order to get him to do – or not do – something."

"I'm taking a guess that it must be completing the trials, considering he suddenly decided he didn't want to be human anymore." Said Crowley.

Cas's eyebrows creased together. "But who would want Dean to stay a demon, or let alone know about the trials?"

Unfortunately, nobody knew the answer to that.

The Lucifer in Dean's mind was quiet for most of the evening until that moment at two in the morning.

"What do you want?" Dean asked aloud, mouth dry from not talking for ten hours.

**_Hopefully you have learned your lesson, Dean. Are you going to obey me this time?_ **

Dean nodded hesitantly, then said "Yes" in a more determined manner.

**_Good. You are not going to question me, just do as I say. You might create some noise, but if you do this right, you'll succeed. First, you need to lock Sam's door so he can't get out._ **

Dean stepped out into the hall quietly and snapped his fingers, locking Sam's bedroom door.

**_Now take Jaelynna to the dungeon. Do not make a lot of noise._ **

Dean teleported into Jael's room and crept over to her sleeping body on the bed. He grabbed a shirt sticking out of her bag and sat on the edge of the bed. All of his movements were slow and cautious, when suddenly Dean lifted her head up and tightly wrapped the shirt around her head, covering her eyes. Jael woke up at the sudden movement and began to shriek, but Dean lifted his hand and she muted, cutting her scream off so it only sounded like a yelp. However, Sam woke easily at the small scream and hastily got out of bed, but soon realized the door was locked.

Sam narrowed his eyes in confusion but began to pound on his door. "Jael! Jael, you okay?" he yelled.

Jael, however, could not hear nor see anything. She attempted to scream but could only produce a faint raspy sound from the back of her throat. She thrashed around in Dean's grasp but he held her tight. He teleported into the dungeon and locked her up with handcuffs onto a chair.

_Do I kill her?_

**_Not now. First, destroy the tablet._ **

Dean went up to the main opening of the bunker where the tablet sat on the table where Jael last left it. Cas and Gabriel (Crowley had once again left) had gotten distracted by Sam's calls and went to him to unlock the door.

"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked once Sam had escaped his room.

Sam paused to catch his breath and then said, "I heard Jael scream and I want to make sure she's alright." The three of them walked into Jael's dark room and saw that she was no longer in her bed.

"I didn't see her walk out, where could she have-" Cas was cut off by a loud crashing sound and a clap of thunder. His eyes widened and they rushed out the hall and just barely saw Dean before he vanished. On the floor lay the tablet of Eden, broken into three pieces.

"He must've gotten Jael." Gabriel quickly deduced. They nodded in agreement.

"Where would he have taken her, then?" Sam asked.

"Anywhere, really. The easiest place he could have taken her would be the dungeon, but that's too-"

"Wait," Cas interrupted, "that's what he wants us to think. He knows we would most likely think he is in a secret far away location, so we'd run off looking for him. He's most likely still here."

Sam and Gabriel nodded. "What if they aren't down there?" Sam asked.

"Then they aren't down there. We'll have to look somewhere else." Gabriel replied quickly.

"Should we split up?"

"There's an odd number, we can't-"

"Come on," Cas interrupted again, "there's no time." He teleported the three of them into the dungeon.

Dean was standing in front of Jael, who still had the shirt wrapped around her eyes.

**_Kill her! Now!_ **

Dean placed his hand on Jael's head; about to kill her with his demonic smiting, but Gabriel, Sam and Cas jumped out and pulled Dean away.

**_Fight them!_ **

Dean managed to push Sam and Cas away, but Gabriel was more powerful. "Get Jael!" he said to Sam and Cas as he fought off Dean. Cas got the cuffs off of Jael and picked her up, handing her to Sam. Sam took her back up to her room while Cas helped Gabriel.

Dean attempted to injure Gabriel by smiting him, punching, and kicking.

**_My brother is more powerful than you, dumbass. Give in, the more you fight, the worse it'll get. You can deal with him later. Sam will be much easier._ **

Dean stopped fighting. Gabriel and Cas held onto him tightly. Sam came back down shortly. Sam looked at them up and down. "Put him in a devil's trap."

* * *

Dean stood in the center of the devil's trap, glaring at Sam. "Seriously, dude? A devil's trap?"

"Dean, you were going to kill Jael! She's traumatized!" Sam snapped. "I can't trust you, this is the only thing I can do." Sam turned around and started to walk out the door.

"Sam-"

**_Don't say anything. He already doesn't trust you._ **

Sam ignored him. "I'm going back to bed. " He mumbled, walking out the door. Gabriel glared at Dean before turning around and following Sam.

Cas stared at Dean mournfully, then started to turn around.

"Cas," Dean said softly. Cas didn't want to stop, but he did. He didn't want to look at Dean again after what happened, but he did. "I'm sorry, I…"

"I know." Cas whispered before Dean could say any more. Dean tilted his head in confusion, but Cas turned around and started walking out the door. Dean didn't say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, just letting you know now: my next update with either be in TWO DAYS or TWO WEEKS. It all depends on what I am doing Monday. This weekend I will be out of town, this week I will be WAY out of town, and next week I will be just a bit more of out of town but less than way out of town. I will have very limited to no internet access during this time.  
> Oh, I am so excited for the chapter I just finished writing. You'll have to wait for a filler chapter (which will most likely be posted monday) and then wait through the two weeks I'll be gone, THEN you get to read the chapter. Sorry for having to give you such a long wait, though.  
> I love all the wonderful reviews I'm getting! Thank you all so much.
> 
> ily you all,  
> -Cameron


	11. Confessions and Concealment

"You okay?" Gabriel asked Sam after finding him in the kitchen, drinking a glass of milk. He was leaning against the counter next to the fridge.

Sam took a sip of his milk and set it on the counter. "Yeah, Gabe, it's just… I don't know what to do. He's not my brother anymore. He's a… hell-twisted maniac."

Gabriel smiled sadly and placed his hand on Sam's arm, right underneath his shoulder. "I know the feeling."

It took a moment for Sam to understand. "Oh," he realized, "Lucifer."

Gabriel sighed, his small smile dropping slightly. "Loosing him was hard, you know? Even though he rebelled, he was my brother and I loved him. He needs some fixer upping, and maybe a bit of sense knocked into him, but I wish he were up in heaven. I know where he is, I know he's not dead, but it kind of leaves the same effect." Gabriel shook his head and stared at their feet. "I miss him, Sam. He might have gone on a psychotic rampage, but still, he's my brother. I miss him."

By now, Gabriel's hand slipped off of Sam. Sam didn't say a word as Gabriel spoke. The words seemed to spill out of his mouth. Sam could tell that Gabriel truly did miss his brother, and knew the feelings that Sam was currently experiencing. "You know, he never cared about Earth. He called it a pile of cockroaches!" Gabriel kept talking, getting angrier as he spoke. "Michael and Raphael didn't seem to care, either. Look at where that got them. Dead and locked up. I'm the only one who ever gave a shit about humanity!"

Gabriel felt a hand on his shoulder, fingers lightly touching his neck. "Hey, it's okay." Sam said quietly. Gabriel looked up at Sam and then realized that that was the first time he's said that out loud to anybody.

Gabriel breathed in and out slowly. "Sorry, it's just- that's the first time I actually said that to-"

"Gabe," Sam interrupted, "it's okay."

"Okay." Gabriel repeated. "Now it's your turn to talk, Sammich." He snapped his fingers and they appeared in Gabriel's room. He grabbed a chair and pulled it over by the bed and took a seat in it backwards. "Let's play therapist. You lay down on the bed and we will discuss your problems."

Sam laughed and sat down on Gabriel's bed, resting his head against the headboard, using the pillow as a cushion. Sam noticed the piece of paper on the bedside table Gabriel had written nicknames down on. "You are such a loser." He chuckled and threw the paper at Gabriel, which floated down onto the floor.

"Hey, I was bored! You'd understand if you didn't need to sleep." Gabriel defended, picking up the paper and placing it back down on the table.

"Alright, alright, just play therapist or whatever,  _doctor._ "

" _It's Doctor Sexy."_ Gabriel corrected, a smile tugging at his lips. Sam thought back to when Gabriel was disguised as Doctor Sexy.

"Oh my God," Sam chuckled again. Gabriel always said the most stupid jokes.

"Okay, Samuel," Gabriel started in a mock-serious tone, "what seems to be troubling you?"

"Well,  _Doctor Sexy_ , my brother appears to be a Knight of Hell and keeps trying to kill everyone." Sam sounded serious but Gabriel could see the smile he was trying to hold back.

"Hmm, well it sounds like your brother needs therapy more than you do!"

"I'll recommend you to him."

They kept joking around and asking stupid questions for half an hour – and every so often Sam would respond seriously, giving Gabriel an idea of how he felt – until Sam closed his eyes and fell asleep. Gabriel rolled his eyes but still smiled, leaving the room so Sam could sleep in peace.

* * *

Cas returned to the library where he and Gabriel were hanging out earlier. Gabriel had looked at every book on the wall and created a towering stack of books that Cas should read. He started with The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. However, Cas couldn't bring himself to read past the first few pages. The events of the past couple hours kept reappearing in his memory. That wasn't Dean. That was not the Dean that promised him that he'd keep trying. That was not the Dean that desperately wanted to be human. This wasn't even the Dean that was influenced by the Blade. This was an entirely new Dean, and Cas was pretty sure that it wasn't even Dean at all.

Nonetheless, when Dean was in the Devil's Trap and looked over to Cas, Cas could see the real Dean shine through for just a second. His look was sad, guilty, the slightest bit angry/annoyed, and  _pleading_. Pleading to be forgiven, that he couldn't control it. He could not get that look out of his head.

Cas couldn't bear watching the effects of the trials. It caused Dean so much pain, and caused him to kidnap Jael. Watching it was distressing. Cas just wanted it to be over. He didn't want to overwork Jael, but Cas was eager to finish the trials, to get a cure. They were almost done. There was one more trial, even though the final one was the most difficult. If Dean could live through it, then so could Cas.

He thought about Dean down the dungeon. That was the second time they had thrown him down there in the past month. No doubt he was trying to find a way out. For a moment Cas thought it would be best if he went down there to guard him. He decided against it, but it kept coming back up into his mind when he tried to read. Cas sighed, put down the book, and walked down to the dungeon.

Dean sat in the middle of his trap, trying to devise a plan to get the hell out of there. He looked up when he heard footsteps and saw Castiel walk through the entrance. "Cas?"

Cas nodded. "Hello, Dean."

"Why'd you come down?" he asked.

"I thought I'd keep you company."

"You mean guard me?"

"Both." Cas admitted, sitting down outside of the circle, facing Dean. "I couldn't concentrate on my book."

Dean smirked. "Can't help thinking about me, huh, Angel?"

Cas stiffened again at the use of  _angel_ , but settled on not saying anything about it. They were silent for a moment, and finally Cas asked, "Is something causing you pain, Dean?"

"No," Dean shrugged and shook his head, "I'm fine. Why?"

Cas shifted around a little bit and said, "You appeared to be in extreme pain just hours before."

Dean rested his elbows on his knees and placed his chin on his hands. "That was just a side effect from the trial. You remember Sam, he had it pretty bad, too."

"Yours are… different." Cas resigned to saying, squinting his eyes at him.

"Well  _I'm_ different, Cas." Dean responded, rather harshly.

Cas was taken aback by his response, though he knew he shouldn't have been. "You tried to kill Jael, Dean! How can you explain that?"

Dean was silent, wondering  _how could he explain that._ He couldn't just say  _Oh Lucifer is controlling me and hurts me if I don't do it right,_  or lie and say  _I'm a demon now what do you expect?_ So he didn't say anything. Perhaps he could have said something along the lines of "I can't control it, I really didn't mean to, it's not me," but he didn't. He didn't want to sound like he was begging. He couldn't even say, "I can't." So he didn't say anything.

"This isn't you, Dean," Cas murmured, looking up at Dean through his eyelashes. Dean stared into Cas's shining angelic eyes and almost had to squint to see his face in front of his bright halo. Through Dean's demon smoke, Cas could just barely make out the small bat-like wings on Dean's back, and the spaded tail curling around his crossed legs.

"I know you can't help it," Cas continued, "but… this isn't my Dean. This isn't the Dean I know."

They sat together in silence for the rest of the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, but this is most likely the last chapter you'll get in two weeks. As I mentioned last chapter, I'm leaving tomorrow for a trip way out of town, coming back late saturday, then leaving early sunday for a farther than out of town but closer than way out of town trip. So yeah, I'll be busy. Anyways, I hope this chapter will be good for two weeks, but I know it's not going to help for me to say how excited I am to post chapter twelve.  
> Anyways, This chapter had some goofy Sam and Gabriel (I had so much fun writing their part) and some angst-y destiel. I hope you liked it.
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	12. Goodnight, Sammy...

In the morning Jaelynna fixed the tablet but didn't read it. They told her it was okay to take a break, calm down and relax for a day or two. So she did. There wasn't much to do, and none of the books in the library were good for her age level, so Gabriel stole Sam's laptop for Jael to play on.

Sam woke up late, slightly disoriented as to why he was in Gabriel's bed, but soon remembered the events of last night. He wasn't too thrilled about Gabriel taking his laptop, but allowed it upon seeing that Jael wasn't bent over the tablet.

Cas eventually came out from the dungeon earlier that morning. Gabriel noticed him and asked, "Did'ya get anything out of him?" Cas just shook his head. Dean still sat in the cold, dark dungeon wallowing in his own pool of hatred.

Everyone was silent most of the day, minding their own business but occasionally making conversation. Jael got bored of the computer around lunchtime. Sam retrieved his laptop, and Gabriel, too lazy to get up, created a sandwich for Jael to eat with a wave of his hand. Jael was fascinated by this (she also claimed that the sandwich tasted amazing), so Gabriel did some more tricks for her. He used his powers to create illusions of animals and other things to amuse her. He made himself look like Crowley and Cas and Sam and acted stupid, pretending to act like them. Jael found this hilarious, but at one point Cas had walked in, stared at them for a moment, then walked out, not even bothering to ask. To Jael, Gabriel was utterly charming and engrossing. Honestly, he was, but the Winchesters, and especially Cas, knew him for a longer time and got different first impressions.

The day went by slowly but nevertheless quickly. Jael went to bed early after reassuring her that nobody could get her since Gabriel had shielded her room. Cas stayed back in the library, almost done with the stack of books Gabriel had assigned to him. Sam was up late with his laptop on the couch until he eventually fell asleep right there. Gabriel snapped his fingers, sending a sleeping Sam to his bedroom. However, he left the laptop on the couch so he could mess around with the setting to irritate Sam. Crowley was still absent.

Dean, had been, well, somewhat sane while he was in the dungeon. He didn't hear Lucifer in his head for the entire day. It was so late in the night it was technically way-too-early-morning when he heard Lucifer again.

**_Let's try again, now, shall we?_ **

"Finally, did you wake up from a nap or something?" Dean grumbled aloud.

Dean noticed a small huff of annoyance in the back of his mind and he wasn't quite sure if that was Lucifer or himself.  ** _Are you angry with Sam, Dean?_** He asked, ignoring Dean's question.

Dean huffed. "Yeah."

**_And why?_ **

"I can't trust him. He won't trust me. He just… he makes me so  _angry_. Just…  _him. Existing._ It's like he does everything that I don't like. And he's let me down so many times…" Dean trailed off, closing his eyes and stared down at the dark floor. "His entire existence." He repeated again, and then brought his head up, eyes wide with realization. "If that  _needy little nerd hadn't been born, none of this shit would have happened."_  Dean spat out the words as if they were poison in his mouth. "Mom wouldn't have made a deal and died, I would have a normal life with my mom and dad. No brother, no hunting. But  _noooo,_ he just  _had_ to be born. And because of that, mom died, we became hunters, I had to protect over him, dad wouldn't have…" Dean stopped and waved away the thought. " _Nothing_  would have happened. We wouldn't be here. He wouldn't have locked me up in the dungeon in a damn devil's trap!"

Dean was now standing up, riled up with anger. The ground shook under him and with a low rumble, the floor under the trap cracked, releasing him from the barrier of the circle.  ** _Excellent. I knew you had it in you._** Dean glanced down at the floor and stepped out of the trap nonchalantly.  ** _Get rid of him._**

So he did.

Dean teleported outside of Sam's room. The hallway was empty and silent. Nobody was around. However, the rumbling in the dungeon had gotten the attention of Gabriel, who proceeded to walk down to check on Dean. Dean slowly opened the door and stepped into Sam's pitch-black bedroom, careful not to make any noise. Unfortunately, the wooden floor of the bedroom was old and loose and creaked underneath Dean's weight. Sam, being a light sleeper, awoke easily at the noise and sat up, turning on the lamp.

"Dean?" Sam's eyes widened and he jerked the covers off his body. "How're you-"

Sam was cut off as he was thrown across the room against the wall. Sam cringed and hissed in pain, face scrunching up. He couldn't fight back, Dean was too powerful. He  _wouldn't_ fight Dean, even if he could. "Help!" Sam yelled as loud as he could, his voice raspy. Dean was quiet as he creeped up towards Sam. Luckily for Sam, Gabriel had noticed the empty dungeon and Castiel heard Sam's screams.

**_Whatever you do,_ **

Sam cried out again, so Dean moved his hand and muted Sam's voice.

**_You will always end up…_ **

Dean punched Sam on his jaw. Sam recoiled from Dean as much as he could.

**_Here._ **

A punch to the nose,

**_No matter what choices you make,_ **

the lip,

**_Whatever details you alter,_ **

the temple.

Sam's face was swelling up and bleeding from multiple places. No matter how hard to tried to scream or move, he couldn't. It's like he was a doll on the shelf, build to be Dean's punching bag.

**_We will always end up…_ **

Dean stopped punching and kicking and looked at Sam in the eyes. Sam had his eyes closed, tears leaking out, but opened them as best as he could when he noticed Dean stopped. Dean's eyes had gone black, and he stared at Sam with a menacing, yet sorrowful glint in his eyes. "Goodnight, Sammy." Dean whispered, putting his hand on top of Sam's head.

**_Here._ **

_Bang._

The door was open.

"Sam!" Two very frightened voices cried from the doorway. "Dean!" they then yelled.

A white light emerged from Gabriel's hand and Dean collapsed. Free from Dean's power, Sam crumbled onto the floor. Cas ran over and helped Sam up, quickly leading him out the door. Dean quickly recovered from Gabriel's blow and stood up, anger practically storming over his head. He threw Gabriel onto the wall, but Gabriel was strong enough to fight it. Castiel ran back into the room and put his biokinesis power to use. Dean howled and dropped to his knees, grabbing at his sides, bending over as if he were vomiting. Gabriel and Cas both ran towards Dean while he was suffering from internal pain. They tried to grab him, but Dean continued to thrash and kick, wildly fighting to defend himself. Cas hit the back of Dean's head and Gabriel kicked his stomach. Gabriel was then able to bend down and place two fingers to Dean's forehead. Dean fell limp into a heap on the ground. Gabriel and Cas shared worried glances.

Castiel had led Sam to his room. Sam collapsed onto the bed, face bleeding and swollen. He ached and he could feel his heart thumping through his whole body. After the fight, Cas returned to Sam and healed him right away while Gabriel took Dean to the dungeon to lock him in special handcuffs (as they had used for Crowley), in a devil's trap, along with some extra warding so there was no way Dean could escape. Gabriel then went back up to check on Sam and Cas.

"He just… came into my room. I don't know how he got there, I just woke up and… there he was. As soon as I noticed him he started to attack me and I couldn't move or say anything. The way he punched and hit me, that's not how he would before. I mean, he would punch me when he was angry, but, like, once in a blue moon. Just earlier, every blow... every blow had extra heat, anger, pain, and it felt as if there was meaning for each hit. It can't possibly be him..." Sam shivered and closed his eyes again, remembering the pain easily, "but it  _felt so much_ like him. Dean didn't say anything, only one thing… right before he was going to kill me." Sam explained.

Cas squinted his eyes in thought. "What did he say?"

Sam gulped and looked down at his hands, then pulled his head up to focus on the two angels standing in front of him. Tears were at the brink of overflowing. He shivered again, empty black eyes still staring at him in the back of his mind, and it was almost like Sam could see a bit of Dean shining through; but not the real Dean. A different Dean, no longer a stranger. Sam inhaled sharply, gasping as his breath hitched in the back of his throat, the tears threatening to spill out. "Goodnight."

Gabriel and Castiel didn't say anything. Even though all Sam wanted to sob and ask  _why, why, why,_ he knew there was no plausible answer.

Sam sighed and glanced up at the angels, glassy vision beginning to clear up a little bit. "We need Jael to translate the rest of the tablet."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update! I am back from both of my vacations (one being only partially vacation) and remembered I actually had a chapter prepared for you all. I also spent about an hour reading it over and adding things to it, particularly at the end. I actually don't have next chapter prepared, and I usually only post a chapter when I have the next one complete, but I felt bad for not updating while I was away and went ahead. It might be a bit until the next chapter though because I'll have to write two (if I'm even going to have a chapter 14) before I update the next. You get it, don't you? Good.  
> I was so excited to post this chapter, you don't even understand. I feel like it went by really quickly but there wasn't too much I could include. If you have any suggestions, let me know.  
> Just so you know, I love you all and appreciate all of the beautiful comments I get, they really make my day.
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	13. Angel's Grace

Jael hesitantly walked out of her room and down the hall. She could clearly remember the ruckus from the night before, all the yelling, bumping, and screaming. Gabriel and Cas were bored out of their minds as they trudged around the bunker, and Sam, who hadn't slept since last night, was finally cooking some breakfast.

"Sam?" she stood in the doorway of the kitchen after finding him in there.

Sam turned around from the stove and smiled softly when he saw her. "Morning, Jael. Do you want any breakfast?" Jael nodded and tilted her head back to look up at the giant that was Sam. "Are eggs okay? That's what I'm making, but if you want something else I can make it." Jael simply nodded again. She sat down at the small dining table in the kitchen. Sam made their eggs in silence, gracefully cracking the eggs and frying them on the pan.

"I smell eggs!" A voice announced from the doorway as Gabriel waltzed in. He snuck up next to Sam to take a look at the eggs. "Fried? Gross, I prefer scrambled." Gabriel took a seat at the circular dining table next to Jael, obviously now uninterested in the eggs.

Sam served Jael the eggs on a blue plastic plate. "Sam?" Jael asked just as he was about to turn away back to the stove. "What happened last night?" The question she had been reluctant to ask suddenly spilled out.

Sam's relaxed expression noticeably hardened, as did Gabriel's. "It's nothing you have to worry about-" he started, but was interrupted.

"It was Dean, wasn't it?" Jael spoke, voice barely a whisper, "he escaped." Jael kept her exterior calm, but panic shone in her dark brown eyes.

Sam sighed. "It was, but everything's fine. We got him under control and he won't escape again."

Jael tried to believe him, but at this point she was honestly afraid of Dean. She tried to think of what he'd be like when he was human. Funny? Mischievous? Kind? Loyal? Brave?

None of those seemed to work now.

Jael nodded and started to dig into the two fried eggs on her plate. Sam concentrated back on his cooking, cracking two more eggs into the pan.

"Jael, I know you need a break, but we really need you to finish the tablet," Gabriel said, catching Jael's eyes, "we can't risk anyone else getting hurt." Jael acknowledged this and shoveled another bite of egg into her mouth. Gabriel sat silently, not quite sure what to do or say next, but his eyes immediately lit up when a plate of scrambled eggs was placed in front of him.

* * *

After breakfast Jael began to read the tablet again. The process of translating the final trial was very arduous, much more than the other two. Translating the Word of God, as a prophet, becomes harder as you go on, unlike learning a new language, where reading becomes easier as you learn. The strange writing of Metatron was created so it would be very burdensome to try to read the entire thing. The reactions include headaches and migraines, fevers, lack of sleep, blurry and disoriented vision and illness. The prophets taking care of themselves can prevent some of the side effects, which is easy for them to forget while focusing on reading the tablet.

The tablet did not easily distract Jael. She took good care of herself; ate when she was hungry, slept when she was tired. She did however get immense headaches and shaky vision, but Sam had pain medicine ready for when she needed it. It didn't cure her headaches, but it did help die it down.

At first, Jael was able to almost fluently read the tablet without that much of a problem. When she got to the trials, translating became more difficult. Jael would try to read, but the tablet seemed to shake in her hands and her head would pound. If she worked like that, she would barely get a sentence in three hours. Whenever she started to consistently feel like that, Jael would head to the kitchen to get a glass of water, ask Sam for some Tylenol and rest for a bit. They made sure Jael didn't stay up all night by giving her a bedtime of ten thirty, but she usually grew tired around ten and went to bed.

Jael's methods helped her work efficiently without overworking, like Kevin had. She only rarely complained, which honestly worried the others just a little bit. Castiel was sure to reassure them that Jael was strong and determined, and that she was doing fine. And she was.

The third trial caused a lot more pain than the other two had, therefore it took longer for Jael to translate. She took breaks more often, headaches and disoriented vision returning around every half-hour. Jael only got a few words every hour. Not only was each sentence long and hard to translate, it was written in an ancient writing style that made reading quite troublesome. Kevin had (of course) gone the extra length to translate  _that_ into modern writing so it was easier for the Winchesters to understand, along with it being easier for him to explain. Jael did not do this, so the two angels and two brothers would have to look at it for a bit to understand what the tablet had meant.

Despite this, it still took Jael an extensive amount of time to translate. Although the third trial was the hardest, text-wise, the third trial was the longest. For two weeks, Jael spent every day translating the final trial. Sam had no motivation to find a case to work on while he waited, so he moped around the bunker with Gabriel and Cas.

Dean sat in the dungeon sluggishly, unable to get out. Lucifer talked to him often but not as much as he did. He did not target the others as regularly anymore, Lucifer now mainly shamed on Dean. Dean failed to kill Sam, Dean failed to stop Jael, Dean failed to escape, Dean failed to resist Cas,  _Dean failed._  Lucifer punished Dean more by causing him pain that was only mental, but also with the words of disgrace, hatred, opprobrium and disgust. Dean screamed and wailed and cried at the pain, sound echoing through the dungeon and bunker. Eventually they couldn't take his shattering screams and soundproofed the dungeon. Every day Dean was more demonic, and it was finally sinking into who he really was. Lucifer wasn't just controlling him, he was  _guiding_  him. Dean still wasn't sure if Lucifer was just a figment of his imagination or if Lucifer had actually been able to get into his mind somehow, but either way, it didn't seem to matter anymore.

At the end of the two atrocious weeks, Jael finished translating the third trial. Even though there was more to translate, the trial was all that mattered right now. Jael hopped off her chair and strolled about the bunker, searching for the others. She found the three sitting on the couch: Sam on his laptop, Gabriel with a book in his hands and Cas lazily watching cartoons. As soon as she mentioned the third trial the three of them quickly brought their attention to her. She handed the notebook to Sam, who took time to make sense of it. He let out a small huff of frustration.

"What's it say?" Cas inquired.

Sam  _hmm_ 'd and opened his mouth. "The grace of an angel must be inserted into his blood. The grace and demonic soul slowly neutralize and turn him human." The two angels both tilted their heads with narrowed eyes.  _Wow, they really are brothers._

"Where are we going to get angel grace?" Gabriel started, "We can't just take an innocent angel's gr-"

"I'll do it." Castiel interrupted confidently.

Now both Sam and Gabriel shared expressions of raised eyebrows and wide eyes. "What? Are you sure? I'm not saying it's bad you want to give up your grace for Dean or anything, but I mean, you just got it back." Sam asked cautiously.

Cas simply shook his head, head slightly hanging. "I want to cure him, and if he needs it, I'm more than willing to give it up for him."

Sam slowly nodded. He knew that there was no use arguing with Cas, and there really was no other choice anyways. "Alright. When should we do it?"

Gabriel sat up. "If we want him cured, then right away."

* * *

Sam retrieved a syringe and decided to let Gabriel do the job, not exactly sure how the whole grace thing works. Cas sat in the chair that Sam once sat in a couple months ago to get the remains of Gadreel's grace. The process of taking the grace directly from the body takes a bit longer than it would be if you take the grace from a wound, as Metatron had.

Gabriel and Sam were still just a bit hesitant to take Castiel's grace, but no matter how much they asked Cas if he was sure, or try to convince him otherwise, Cas would just say  _yes._

Jael sat in the same room but distanced herself from the others, in case something unexpected occurred. She had been very watchful, lately.

"Ready, little bro?' Gabriel asked, syringe in his hand. Castiel nodded and closed his eyes. Sam stood on the other side of Cas, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Without much of a warning, Gabriel plunged the syringe into Cas' neck. Cas' eyes squeezed shut a little tighter at the pinch of the needle, but relaxed again. Gabriel slowly pulled the plunge, grace filling up the barrel. He kept pulling until no more grace would come out. Gabriel carefully removed the needle from Cas' neck and placed the syringe down on the nearest table.

When stripped of their grace, angels are initially exhausted and tired. Since they are newly mortal, they have an extreme lack of sleep, food, and water. They have to learn the process of being a human, which takes a bit of help. It's like teaching a baby to grow up when they're already centuries old. They need to know how to act human, take care of their body, and survive without their angelic powers. It is then when angels fully realize the difficulties of being mortal, something they have never fully grasped by simply watching humanity.

Cas, however, had been human for quite awhile before stealing the grace of another angel. If it weren't for Metatron, Cas probably would have stayed a human. But then again, if it weren't for Metatron, he would still have his grace in the first place. Castiel was very,  _very_  lucky that Metatron only needed about one fourth of his grace to complete the angel trials. Metatron was smart enough to go ahead and take all of Cas' grace, though.

All of those events didn't seem to matter now, anymore.

Castiel took in deep, shaky breaths. Gabriel and Sam helped him sit up.

"You okay?" Sam asked, concern painted on his face. Cas nodded and coughed a little bit.

During the events of the last few years, Castiel slowly learned emotions, unlike the other angels. Also, he discovered that while human, these emotions multiplied by extreme amounts. Pain, sadness, heartbreak, anger, but also the positive emotions, such as joy, pleasure, humour and comfort. At first, Castiel had wanted the emotions to be gone. The negative emotions were strong and overwhelming, and he wanted them removed. However, the positive emotions usually outweighed the negative, and it's the best feeling in the world. The pleasure of happiness, relief, and bliss blooming from the inside and onto the outside sure did beat the feeling of misery and hopelessness crawling its way into your soul. Only as a human did Cas truly know; some negative feelings were worth suffering for the positive ones.

"Come on, Cassie, let's get you some food." Gabriel suggested as they helped Cas stand up.

Cas shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Completing the trials is more important, I can get food later." Sam and Gabriel shared worried glances as Cas picked the syringe back up and headed towards the dungeon.

"Stay up here, Jael," Gabriel whispered to Jael before going down. She nodded and stayed put.

The three entered the dungeon to see Dean sitting quietly, still locked up tightly.

Gabriel gasped upon seeing Dean. Sam and Cas turned toward him questioningly. Dean's true form looked battered up and bloodied. When surrounded by their true form, the vessels look altered, as if their skin was torn off in pieces and stitched back together in jagged patterns, making their skin look distorted. In the jagged patterns where Dean's skin was sewed together, blood was running from the stitches. Dean's dark eyes even seemed to look like crimson lingered behind them. His bat-like wings were drawn in behind him, temporarily ripped, unable to teleport from the traps. His spaded devil tail was brought up and wound around his right arm.

Gabriel saw a demon, whereas Sam and Cas only saw Dean.

Dean averted his eyes from Gabriel to Castiel, whom he leered at. "What happened to your wings, angel?" he snarled. His sneer faded away as his eyes trailed down to look at was in Castiel's hand.

"Tape him." Sam ordered before Dean could speak again. Gabriel made a roll of duct tape appear in his hands. He ripped off a few inches and secured the tape onto Dean's mouth. Castiel handed the syringe to Sam, who rejected it. Gabriel, however, offered to take the syringe. Dean tried to speak from underneath the duct tape, but even if they could understand him they ignored him. Gabriel approached Dean with the syringe and plummeted the needle into his neck. Dean released a strangled groan and shut his eyes. Once all of Cas' grace was inserted into Dean's blood, Gabriel carelessly pulled the needle out. Dean opened his eyes and everyone watched him intently. Nothing happened.

Sam scrunched his nose and approached Dean and pulled up his shirtsleeve. The Mark was glowing, as it did during the other trials, but Dean did not seem effected by the pain like he was before.

The Mark stopped glowing and Sam pushed the sleeve back down. Nothing else happened.

"Is… is anything different?" Cas asked Gabriel. He shook his head.

"Maybe it takes a little while to start working?" Sam suggested.

Gabriel shrugged. "I don't know. We'll have to check back later."

The three of them went back up, not even bothering to take the duct tape off of Dean's mouth.

About an hour and a half later, Sam went down to check on Dean.

He was gone.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really like this chapter because I feel like it shows more of my writing style; less dialogue, more describing, details, etc. Anyways, you know how I said there's only going to be around 14 chapters? Well I lied. I got a startling idea (that may or may not have to do with the season ten synopsis /hinthint/) which will extend the story by quite a bit. I am rather excited. The story will get more suspenseful, busy, and bloody (in more ways than one). I'm super excited, as I hope you are, too.
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	14. Bottle of Blood

The dungeon was spotless. No devil's trap, no table, no chair, no handcuffs, no warding, no Dean.

There was one thing, though.

A clear bottle sat on the floor, filled with dark red liquid. A small index card was underneath the bottle.

_Remember what happened last time I died, Sam?_

Sam shivered and dropped the card.  _No, no, no, no, no._ He began to slowly back away from the bottle on the floor in disbelief. Sam was shaken. He breathed in quick and shallow breaths.  _His blood… he left me his blood…_  Before he could turn and run out, the sound of footsteps echoed through the dungeon and Gabriel came running in.

"Sam? Are you okay, you seemed distressed and-" Gabriel stopped mid-step and observed the scene in front of him, "shit, he escaped again!" he exclaimed.

At this point Castiel came following down. "What?" Cas stared at the bottle on the floor where Dean once sat. "How did he…" Cas trailed off, trying to think of every possibility. He then focused on the card on the floor. He picked it up and Gabriel moved closer to read it.

Gabriel just stared at the card in confusion while Cas looked up realization. He approached the bottle on the floor and picked it up, observing the dark crimson blood that filled up the glass bottle.

"I- I don't get it." Gabriel stated.

Cas turned around and looked into Gabriel's eyes. "Before, and even after I raised Dean, Sam began drinking demon blood to fuel his demonic powers, which he became addicted to. I can only assume Dean left this because he-"

"Yeah, okay, I understand now." Gabriel interrupted, but his attention was on Sam. Sam now leaned against the wall, breathing quicker and shallower. His eyes were stuck on the bottle of blood in Cas' hands. Gabriel carefully approached Sam and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, you okay? Take a deep breath."

Sam obeyed Gabriel and took in a deep, shaky breath. "Yeah, let's- let's just go back up." Gabriel nodded and grabbed Sam's wrist, guiding him back up to sit down, Cas following. Gabriel sat at the table next to Sam while Cas fetched him a glass of water. Sam gulped down his water and set the glass down.

"Are you okay?" Gabriel asked again. The colour was finally coming back to Sam's face.

"Yeah," Sam breathed, and after a moment of silence, he spoke up, "uh, Gabe? When you came down you said I seemed distressed… how did you know that when you weren't even down there?"

Gabriel smirked. "Empathy, Sammich. I have the power to read, feel, and sense your emotions, and yours were rather strong at the moment, so I decided to check up on you." Sam simply nodded, grateful that he did. Still, he felt a bit uncomfortable knowing that the archangel could feel his emotions, and probably read his mind as well. "Now, getting back on topic, what're we going to do about Dean?"

"First, I want to know how he escaped." Sam stated.

Cas shrugged. "I'm guessing that the grace made him temporarily stronger so he was able to escape. Having both angelic and demonic powers makes him extremely dangerous, even if they are both slowly neutralizing," he explained, "but the biggest concern right now is where he would have gone. We have absolutely no way to track him."

Questions of  _who, what, when, where, why,_ and  _how_ filled their brains, but only one question could be answered at the time, if there even was an answer.

"Could he… have gone to hell?" Sam asked falteringly.

"It's a possibility," Cas responded, "but Crowley might have found him. Then again, every possibility has several of its own possibilities."

Sam just made a face at this, but just as he opened his mouth Gabriel spoke up. "Wait, maybe Crowley has something to do with this? He's turned on you plenty of times, hasn't he? Plus, he's been AWOL for majority of the time."

Sam considered this. "Should we summon him, then, and ask him?" He looked at the others and they nodded. Why not?

Gabriel gathered the ingredients, Cas drew the sigil and lit the candles, and Sam drew a devil's trap, just in case.

" _Et ad congregandum… eos coram me…"_ Sam read from the book, and within a few minutes Crowley appeared.

"Hello, boys. Anything I can-" Crowley greeted, then noticed the devil's trap pained on the floor. He groaned and looked up at the three of them, obviously annoyed. "What do you want?"

"Do you know where Dean is?" Sam asked.

Crowley pressed his lips together. "Why would I know where he is? I thought he was here with you! What happened while I was gone?"

Gabriel sighed. "Well, after the second trial Dean tried to kidnap Jael, so we locked him up. Then he escaped and almost  _killed_ Sam, so we locked him again with more precautions. We did the third trial, nothing happened, we check on him later- he's gone. And you've been away throughout all of this." Gabriel narrowed his eyes and leaned forward. "What have you been doing?"

Crowley also leaned forward and put on the same facial expression, mocking Gabriel. "Nothing that should concern you," he sneered, "just getting back into my old habits, which were so  _graciously_ wiped clean when Gigantor over here tried to cure me quite some time ago. Also gave hell a little bit of remodeling, and that doesn't require your involvement. _But_ , I have been searching for more ways to help Dean, which so far, has been unsuccessful."

Sam sighed. "So you don't know where he is?"

Crowley shook his head. "I'm afraid not. However, you could try using a tracking spell. To find the First Blade, we used a locating spell."

Gabriel cocked his head. "The First Blade is destroyed."

"Well duh, dumbass, we burned it ourselves. The locating spell didn't lead us to the First Blade; it let us to the source of its power, the Mark of Cain." Crowley snapped back.

"So you're saying we can use the locating spell to track Dean?" Cas inquired.

"It's not that simple," Crowley responded, shifting his weight from foot to foot, "the spell and its ingredients took over a year of searching for Tara, the hunter that we helped complete the spell. There's at least fifty – probably more – ingredients to find, and I don't know if we simply have the time."

"We have to try, though, right?" Sam urged.

"If there is no other way, this may as well be our only choice." Gabriel added.

Cas shook his head slowly. "There's still a chance he's not even on earth. He could be in Hell, or maybe even have access to Heaven with the grace in his system." Cas choked down the thought of Dean in heaven as a demon. The things he could do…

Sam took a deep breath. "Let's hope not." Sam turned towards Crowley. "Is there any way you can find him in hell, if he's there?"

Crowley shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I would have to literally go searching for him, which takes a lot of effort and guts. Not even demons like it in hell." He said with a slight shrug.

Gabriel's brow furrowed. "Why are you helping us, anyways? Aren't you supposed to be one of the bad guys?"

"Technically, I guess I am, but sometimes the good guys and bad guys have to team up to fight the worse guys. Dean is more powerful than me, and more powerful than Abaddon ever was. Power can get to your head and corrupt it, and Dean's already corrupted enough. He's going to want hell for himself, and personally – I don't know about you – but I'd rather him not." Crowley scanned their faces and huffed. "In this story, none of us are the bad guys. Dean is."

* * *

Crowley was let out of the devil's trap to help the others figure out a way to find Dean. The four of them thought of nearly every possibility and every possibility for each possibility. He could either be on Heaven, Hell, or Earth. Each was monstrous in size, meaning there were unlimited circumstances.

They were up practically all night creating a giant web of scenarios to the point where Sam and Cas were falling asleep at the table. They went to bed for a few hours while Gabriel and Crowley stayed put to think of more scenarios, each one equally as unlikely as the one before.

Cas slept a dreamless sleep until a female voice rang through his head.

"Castiel?" Cas sat up, yawned, stretched, turned on the lamp and rubbed his eyes. Hannah stood on the other side of the room. "We've been trying to reach you for hours. I came down to make sure everything was all right, but I see now why you were not able to hear me. Where is your grace, Castiel?"

Cas looked down onto his lap, which was covered by the scratchy bed sheets. He brought his glance back up to Hannah, who watched him carefully. "We have been trying to cure Dean Winchester," he started, "and the final trial to healing him required the grace of an angel."

"So you gave up your grace to heal him?" Hannah clarified, not entirely surprised.

Cas nodded. "Yes. What have you been needing to contact me for?"

Hannah took a step closer to the bed and brought her hands behind her back. Hannah was very professional in all of her heavenly duties. "There are still a handful of angels who have not yet returned to heaven, or refuse to do so. We were going to ask for your assistance, but I see now that you are incapable of helping us."

Before Cas knew what he was saying, he blurted out, "No, I can still help."

Every other instinct told Cas to decline, but his immediate reaction was to help, and he could no longer take that back.

"Are you sure?" Castiel just nodded his head, not letting himself speak any more in fear of saying the wrong thing.

"Do you know the names of the angels?" Cas asked. Hannah nodded. "Could you give them to me?" Hannah agreed and placed a gentle hand on Cas' forehead, transferring the angel names into his brain. Cas was nearly overwhelmed by the number of angels; well over a hundred were still on earth.  _How am I going to do this?_

"Are you need in any assistance for this, Castiel?" Hannah asked.

Cas shook his head. "No, I have… others who can help me. Is there anything else you need?"

Hannah frowned slightly. "The reapers have had a bit of trouble escorting everyone to heaven. While heaven was closed, the souls of everyone who has died remained on earth. There is an overabundance of souls, but the reapers should be handling it."

Cas acknowledged this with a bow of his head. Kevin was finally going where he belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this chapter could have been better, but I'm okay with it for now. Anyways, there is a bit of foreshadowing in this chapter, if you can spot it out. Post comments of what you think might happen in the future, I'd love to see what you'd come up with.
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	15. Eye of the Hurricane

The petite, wooden windmill that greeted visitors was spinning at a slow, steady rate. Bees buzzed delightfully about the property, which extended for quite a few acres. The small, white house that sat next to a green field appeared friendly with its windmill, vintage truck, wood-and-wire fence, chimney, and the bee yard on the side of the house. The inside of the house was cozy and welcoming; old-fashioned wallpaper and furniture, warm fireplace, antiques, and books. The whole place was like a visit to grandpa's house. If you are a visitor, the person that lives in the house will be friendly, but there's a good chance they'll shoo you away. If you are anyone associated with demons, angels, or anything supernatural, they'll force you out.

He knocked on the black door. There was no answer. The beekeeper must be busy.

He stepped off the porch and rounded the corner of the house to the bee yard. Sure enough, there was the beekeeper. He wore his white bee suit as he peered into his bee farms. The beekeeper looked up and noticed him standing there.

"Dean Winchester," he greeted, "it's been quite a while. Have you come to fulfill my request?" The beekeeper made his way toward Dean and lifted his hat and veil.

"Howdy, Cain. If you're still wishing for me to kill you, sorry, but I can't do that." Dean replied.

Cain's eyebrows creased together. "Let's go inside and talk." He teleported them both into the living area of the house. He motioned for Dean to sit on the sofa. "Would you like anything to drink?" Dean declined, so Cain prepared a cup of tea for himself. He then sat down on the armchair across from the sofa, taking a sip of his tea. "What do you mean, you can't kill me?"

Dean made himself comfortable (as much as he could on the inconveniently uncomfortable sofa) and looked at Cain up and down, taking in his demonic form. It was much like Dean's but smaller, no longer being a Knight of Hell. "It means I can't kill you. The First Blade is the only thing that can kill you, correct? Well those bastards are  _curing_ me, and part of that meant destroying the blade." He spat out the words as if they were poison.

Cain nodded in thought. "Well, Dean, technically, I am no longer a Knight of Hell. Now, I'm just a normal demon. You could kill me just like you kill other demons." Dean blinked a few times. So he  _would_ get to kill Cain.  _Perfect._  "Wait a minute, they're trying to cure you?" Cain finally caught on to what Dean said.

"Yeah," Dean scoffed, now barely able to believe his family would do such a thing, "isn't it insane? And to think at one point I actually  _wanted_  to be cured."

Cain just stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief. "How is that even possible? There's a cure?"

"Yep," Dean replied, drawling out the  _e_ , "they found it on some tablet. Adam and Eve, I think? Yeah, that was it. But the process of curing me… it's made me  _stronger_. The amount of power I feel is unconquerable. The things I could do…" he trailed out with a laugh. "This mark has changed me."

Cain watched Dean carefully, concern glinting in his eyes. "It has affected you greatly. I know what you're going through, and it's not a pretty process. I was once like this… and if it weren't for Collette it would have been a lot worse." He averted his gaze at the window, looking through the thin lace curtains to watch the empty field.

Dean didn't take his eyes off of Cain. "I don't need my life to be some chick-flick. I'd prefer action."

Cain took in a deep inhale and sighed, looking back at Dean. "Be careful, Dean. The next person you try to kill could be the one that saves your life." Dean had a snarky response waiting behind his tongue, but before he could even open his mouth, Cain spoke up again. "Now, are we done here? One hundred eighty thousand years is enough for me." Dean nodded and they both stood up. Dean placed a hand on Cain's head. Cain closed his eyes. "Thank you, Dean." He whispered. Dean bowed his head in response, and suddenly a bright, fiery red light emerged from his hand and throughout Cain, shining through his eyes and mouth. Dean pulled his hand away, and Cain's lifeless body fell to the ground. He stared at the body unemotionally. 180,000 years was plenty for Cain.

* * *

The death of the Father of Murder created quite a disturbance. Large gusts of wind, thunder and lightning occurred all throughout Missouri, but lasted for exactly sixty seconds. The weather picked up in less than a second, rough winds whipping around everything that wasn't strong enough. Thunder boomed louder than they would in a typical thunderstorm, and lightning lit up the evening sky. Anyone who was outside during those sixty seconds must've been terrified.

Even though the strange weather made headlines, it also caught the attention of the younger Winchester. " _Exactly_ sixty seconds of sudden weather change. It could be weather manipulation." He explained, trying to convince someone to check it out.

Cas slumped in his chair. "Do you really think it could be Dean? What could he have done to manipulate the weather for around one minute?"

Sam, obviously frustrated, replied, " _Exactly one minute._ Not sixty-point-thirty-eight,  _sixty seconds._ "

"Yes, we get it, Sasquatch," Gabriel waved him off, "but it does seem rather suspicious. What if it's not Dean, though?"

"Then we've got something else to deal with, for now." Cas responded rather reluctantly. Having another problem was the last thing they needed.

Crowley rolled his eyes at the lot of them. "Would it make you feel any better if I tracked the source of the manipulation and checked it out?"

Sam blinked at Crowley a few times then nodded docilely. Before anyone else could say anything, Crowley disappeared.

Tracking the source was rather easy. It was like finding the eye of a hurricane; the one place that wasn't effected as much as the rest. The very center was most likely where the cause of the weather sat. Crowley reappeared in the dirt driveway next to a rickety windmill.

Crowley immediately knew that whatever happened was not good. Horrible, to be more precise. He did not see Cain in his bee yard or in the field. Crowley carefully stepped up onto the porch and attempted to open the door. Locked. He had no luck in blowing the door down, either. Crowley could sense a spell enchanted on the house, and it was keeping him from entering. Frustrated, Crowley peered through a window and gasped.

"You need to come now." Crowley demanded in panic once he had returned to the bunker.

Sam stood up frantically. "What? What's going on, what happened?"

"It's Cain." He responded.

Gabriel and Cas also stood up, approaching Crowley. " _Cain?_ What about Cain, what did he do?" Inquired Gabriel.

Crowley locked eyes with Gabriel. "He's dead."

This, of course, made them agree to follow Crowley. The others, not having seen Cain's house before (let alone Cain) took in their surroundings. They never would have guessed that the Father of Murder lived in the bee-surrounded cottage with a windmill in the front.

"Bees?" questioned Gabriel, observing the bee yard.

"So this is where Cain lived?" Cas asked, scanning over the large property.

Crowley nodded. "It is, and I'm pretty sure there's a spell enchanted on the house. I wasn't able to get it."

Sam's face scrunched up in confusion. "Well how do you expect us to-"

Sam was interrupted as Gabriel pushed his way in front of them. "I'll get it." Gabriel practically strutted over to the door and looked real closely at it, face only a few inches away from the wood. He then turned his head as if he was listening carefully for something. Suddenly, Gabriel took a step back and held his hand up against the door, arm out at full length. A white light emerged from Gabriel's hand, slow at first, then quickening in speed and brightness. A loud  _bang_ was heard just as the light flickered out, like a light bulb. The door was busted down, the spell obviously broken. Gabriel motioned with his hands for the others to walk on in, Crowley leading the way, followed by Cas and Sam. Sam tried to hide his impressed look with a roll of his eyes. S _how off_. As Sam walked by Gabriel, however, he whispered, "Empathy, Sam." Gabriel chuckled at Sam's slightly startled expression and followed him inside.

Crowley stopped in front of Cain, who lay lifelessly on the floor. The others circled around him, observing the man who would have rather had his life ended quite some time ago. "I just can't believe this." He breathed.

Cas shifted around, switching his glance between Cain and the human, angel, and demon. "Do you think it could have been Dean?"

"Who else could have killed him?" Sam replied impassively. Nobody said anything. They knew it was Dean. Nothing else would be able to kill Cain. Crowley knew that Cain most likely welcomed him.

"Should we… burn him or something?" Gabriel commented. Gabriel could recall watching over Cain and Abel as children. They ran around meadows, played games, lied to each other but forgave each other. The youngest of the archangels was fascinated by the life his Father had created, though his older brothers were not. Gabriel used to wonder what it would be like to be human.

Cas slowly nodded. "Yes, that would be customary." Crowley nodded in agreement. Sam didn't say anything.

All the supplies needed to burn Cain were in his toolshed behind the house. His lit body burning in the approaching night sent up thick smoke into the dark sky. The three of them stood and watched Cain burn until fireflies joined the bees in flying about the meadow.

Even if immortal, everything has an end.

* * *

Every time Cas closed his eyes he saw the never-ending list of angels as if they were burned into his eyelids. He sat alone in his room, legs crossed in the middle of the bed. He was  _hopeless_. There was nothing he could do to retrieve the angels, and yet he agreed to serve Heaven despite being freed of his service.

Cas breathed in deep, heavy breaths, trying to keep the tears from spilling. Here he was, the fallen angel, about to cry on his bed. The man he loved was missing with far too much power than he needed, they trusted the last person they expected to trust, his friend seems to be falling into a depression and his brother is more broken than his appearance says he is.

Cas just didn't  _understand._  If the negative emotions were worth suffering for the positive emotions, why did the negative emotions feel stronger? The horrible feelings consumed him and flipped him inside out. He wondered how humanity survived like this, living in constant sadness and sorrow.

Footsteps echoed through the halls and stopped next to Cas' door. Cas stopped his heavy breathing in case the person outside his door could hear him, but his brother knew him well.

"Cas? You okay?" Gabriel's concerned voice said through the door. "Can I come in?"

Cas gulped and croaked out a "yes."

Gabriel cracked open the door to see Cas sitting in the center of his bed, then stepped in the room and hopped onto the bed next to him. "What's upsetting you, Cassie?" He asked, and then added, "it still pains me to see you without your wings."

Cas closed his eyes and sighed. He honestly didn't want to drag Gabriel into this, but what other choice did he have? "Hannah… visited me yesterday night. She told me that there were angels who refused to return to Heaven. She gave me the list and," he paused and shuddered slightly, "there's a lot, Gabriel. There's got to be at least two hundred of them." Cas opened his eyes and looked over at Gabriel. "I agreed to help – but I'm not sure how I can do this. I don't know what to do." Cas' voice died down to a whisper as he spoke, tears once again threatening to spill.

Gabriel placed a hand on Cas' back. "Cas, I can help you if you want." He carefully offered.

Cas brought his gaze back to Gabriel's honey eyes. "No, you don't want to go back, and I understand why. You have a right to not help me."

Gabriel shook his head. "I want to help you, little brother."

Cas nodded, and was honestly a bit ashamed on how quickly he gave in. "Okay."

"Besides," Gabriel smiled sadly and looked up where the wall met the ceiling, "it's about time I go back."

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm stuck on chapter seventeen, so I decided to post this, since I don't know when I'll finish writing it.  
> Oh my gosh, my writer's block is so bad I don't even know what to say in this a/n.  
> I need help.
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	16. Hooks and Chains

Warning: Torture

* * *

_Dean Winchester is dangerous. If he is spotted in Hell, it is necessary that I know so he may be caught._

* * *

It was dark, and the air was thick with sweat, blood, and screams. Raw souls were pinned to the racks by large hooks and chains, pierced right through flesh and bone to hold them up. With the Grand Torturer long dead, the screams weren't as ear shattering as Dean remembered.

Oh, how that was about to change.

He approached an untouched soul with a sinister smile plastered on his face. She noticed him right away and didn't waste time struggling; it had been long since she had discovered that struggling only tightened the chains. Dean picked up a knife that caught his eye and twisted it around in his fingers, stepping even closer to the girl.

He carefully poked the tip of the blade into the skin on her forearm, and then swiftly sliced upward, causing the girl to cringe and bite back a scream. Dean wiped the blood off of the tip of the blade and moved up towards her face. He began to carve delicate patterns into her forehead, cheeks and chin, blood bubbling up and dripping from the swirling designs. They stung hard like paper cuts blossoming over her face. Dean changed to her neck, were he continued the coiling patterns, pushing the blade deeper into her neck. Once he finished painting her neck with blood, he remembered the ears that hung off her face. He had been careful not to let her scream, not yet. He pulled her ear slightly upward with his index finger, placing the blade carefully behind her ear. The girl's whimpering stopped for just a moment, and Dean jerked his arm violently, ear falling right off of her head. Blood spewed from the opening in her head. She screamed and coughed up blood as Dean moved to the next ear, slicing that one off as well.

"How long have you been here?" he growled, bending next to where her ear once was.

She shuddered and sputtered, still coughing up blood and groaning. "Five… five years." She blubbered.

Dean began carving and slicing her stomach, sinking the blade in further and further. He continued to pierce her skin with the blade until she was covered in blood entirely. She screamed until her throat was raw, and even then continued to yell out in pain. Dean just laughed. " _Weak!_ " he bellowed, "I survived thirty years!" He then stabbed the blade into her eye and she released a hoarse shriek. Dean laughed and watched as her other eye turned black. He pulled the knife from her eye and made her whole again. He took her off the rack, now a demon. Dean left to find another soul to torture.

He had fun with the first soul, now was when he savoured their screams.

This one was an older man. Dean stuck razors down his throat, popped out his eyes, attached more hooks and chains to the man and cut off his limbs. And once there wasn't any more to do, he'd snap his fingers and just like magic he was whole again. Fresh, untouched, and ready to be tortured. The elderly man had only been on the rack for ten years, but Dean managed to demonize him.

This continued with each soul he tortured. Their blood-curdling screams fueled his laughter and torturing. Sometimes, before he'd even start the torturing, he'd talk, yell, and guilt them to tears. He could look at them and see what they so desperately wanted. Everyone down there was desperate enough to sell their soul. It was a good idea at the time, but being down here with Dean Winchester carving into their chest made them instantly regret it.

He'd demonize every single person he tortured; it didn't matter if they'd been there for five days or fifty years. When he watched their eyes turn black, he'd laugh and laugh until he finally remembered to make them whole and release them.

It had only been 24 hours in hell, and oh, did he enjoy it.

* * *

"Who's the first angel?" Gabriel asked. Since the night before, Cas cleaned his clothes, ate and drank plenty, and got a good seven hours of sleep. He felt better, and was ready to search for some angels.

Cas thought back to the list of angels Hannah inserted into his brain. "Jophiel."

Gabriel groaned. "Not him! I remember him, he was a bitch."

"Gabriel," Cas scolded. Gabriel rolled his eyes and mumbled a  _fine_. "So, do you know where he is?"

Gabriel closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "Be right back," he said. He disappeared, and within a few seconds he was back. "Yes. He's with three other angels. Cerviel, Arariel, and Kochbiel. Are they on the list?"

"They should be," Cas confirmed, "where are they?"

"Some bar in Flagstaff, Arizona." Gabriel replied. Cas rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so, are you ready?"

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Yes. I'm ready." Gabriel teleported them to the bar. It was empty besides the female bartender and three males sitting at the bar. They turned at the familiar sound of wings at the doorway. "Hello, brethren," Gabriel greeted, obviously pretending to be sophisticated, "Heaven's open, you know."

The four angels gasped, out of both surprise and horror. "Gabriel?" Arariel, the angel in the female vessel exclaimed.

Gabriel looked down at himself and smirked. "That's me. Miss your older brother?"

"We thought you were dead, Gabriel!" The gruff man on the right nearly yelled.

"Calm down, Jophiel," the man in the middle – Kochbiel – said, putting an arm in front of Jophiel. He put his attention back on Gabriel. "Where have you been, and why are you here now?"

"My whereabouts are not your concern-" Gabriel started.

"You've been gone for years, and now you just reappear like it's nothing! Of course it's our concern." Cerviel snapped.

Gabriel stopped and sighed. He was debating over what to say. Fibbing would be difficult, especially with hotheaded angels.  _Don't be a wimp and lie, just face your fears_ , the voice in the back of his head told him. He groaned internally, and then stood up straight. "I left. I couldn't see my family fight, so I chose not to."

Arariel narrowed her eyes. "You  _coward!_ " she yelled, teleporting to the other side of the counter. The words hit Gabriel hard, like a punch in the gut. "We needed a leader, someone to bring peace, and yet you left!" Arariel was about to get closer to Gabriel and throw a punch, but Kochbiel, being the only calm one in the situation, stood up and held her back.

"We can be angry later," he explained, then looked back at Gabriel, "why're you here?"

Cas stepped forward, "All of the angels must return to Heaven. You should know that it is reopened and Metatron has been terminated." He spoke up.

"Castiel," Jophiel hissed, "why should we trust you, after all the damage you caused?"

"Well, for one, I am no longer an angel, as you can tell. I have no reason to lie to you, and there is nothing I can do to you. Heaven is reopened and you need to return." Cas replied, glaring at Jophiel.

"And what if we don't?" tested Arariel.

Gabriel took a step closer to them and laughed. "Oh, you will."

Three yelling angels, a bit of convincing, and more threatening later, the four angels reluctantly were sent to Heaven by Gabriel, who sent them up with a flick of his wrist.

Unfortunately, most of the encounters went like this, and each time the words hurt Gabriel more and more. They only got about twenty angels; some angels wandered alone, others in groups. Some where nowhere to be found; Gabriel couldn't find them on Earth or Heaven, meaning they must be dead. Each one acted the same and each one ended the same. And after each trip, Gabriel was more reluctant to go to the next.

* * *

Crowley took a look at hell, restored back to how it originally was. Dark halls, fiery pits, hoarse screams and damned souls.  _This_ was how he remembered it. The endless queue he had created grew boring and needed some enhancement. Crowley smiled at his revived work. Hell was hell again.

A young demon approached Crowley. "Sir," she started, "Dean Winchester was spotted in the torture chambers yesterday."

Crowley narrowed his eyes and observed her. She was young, demonized just yesterday. "Did he torture you?" he inquired.

She bowed her head, and her tail flicked around behind her, quite like a cat. "Yes, sir. He tortured about twenty souls in just one day."

" _Twenty?_ " Crowley clarified, bewildered. The demon nodded. "Well, where is he now?"

"We don't know, sir. He escaped sometime early this morning. I assume that he is no longer in hell." She replied, looking back up at him.

Crowley huffed. At least it's news. "Alright. Thank you… erm,"

"Vivienne." She finished.

"Ah, yes, Vivienne. Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir." Vivienne responded. He dismissed her and sighed.

Crowley reappeared in the bunker, where Sam sat with his laptop, reading some article about some sort of lore in the dark with his hands on his head in frustration. He was pale, his eyes bloodshot, and his hair disheveled from constantly running his hands through it. "You look like you haven't slept in days, Moose," Crowley said, causing Sam to look up and squint due to the darkness of the bunker.

"I haven't, much." He admitted, closing the laptop, attempting to adjust to the darkness.

"Would it kill you to turn on a light?" Crowley commented, walking over to a lamp and turning the switch.

Sam blinked a few times and looked back at Crowley. "Any news?"

He took in a heavy breath. "Dean was spotted in the torture chambers torturing souls."

Sam tilted his head and narrowed his eyes. He remembers years back, when Dean first told him about his time in hell.

_"How I feel, this… inside me, I wish I couldn't feel anything, Sammy. I wish I couldn't feel a damn thing."_

Dean got his wish, at least.

"He demonized at least twenty souls, Sam." Sam didn't say anything. Confusion, pain, and betrayal were painted across his face. "Where's your angel boy?"

Sam just sighed and rolled his eyes, breaking his moment of despair. "Gabe and Cas are searching for angels who are still on Earth, or something." He finally responded.

Crowley  _hmm_ 'd. "You need to take care of yourself, Sam," he bent down slightly and sniffed the area around Sam, scrunching his nose, "you smell like you haven't showered in days, either. I'm going to have to hire a babysitter for you."

Sam managed a small chuckle. "I don't think so."

"Well, there are twenty demons who have seen Dean, and I don't know who or where they are. I have demons on the lookout for him, though. I'll let you know if we see him again, but, as far as we know, Dean isn't in hell, meaning he's most likely on Earth."

Sam closed his eyes and drew in a breath. "Okay. I'll keep looking."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally updated, sorry bout that. I've had a bit of writer's block with chapter seventeen, but finally got back to writing yesterday and finished it. I read a very serious sabriel fic (which was also super long) and it took me, like, two days to get that version of Gabriel out of my head. But anyways I got back to writing and I'm very excited to get post chapter seventeen.
> 
> Please leave a comment, I love reading them. ^-^
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	17. Remembering

Gabriel was all tied up. After seeing that Sam could barely take care of himself, he created a duplicate to care for Jael, who had been bored out of her mind for the past couple days. Controlling duplicates of himself took a lot of concentration, and if he didn’t control them, they’d create a mind of their own. It’s like split personalities. If he didn’t control the duplicate taking care of Jael, it’d go on full mommy-mode. If he didn’t control a duplicate that was shopping at a candy store, he’d eat all of the candy the store held.

The real him was helping Cas with the angels. After reuniting with many of his brothers and sisters, he remembers why he left in the first place. They’re all so serious and have such high tempers. They don’t understand the simplest of concepts. They turn on each other so easily. They lack loyalty towards one another. Gabriel couldn’t stand any of this, but there was no backing out now. His brother needed help, so he was going to help. Very few of the angels respected Gabriel’s decisions and didn’t get angry with him. Most of them didn’t. It was so hard for him to hear the words being shouted at him, the words that he only heard in the back of his mind.  _Coward. Afraid. Alarmist._ Gabriel was no hero to them, and no longer family.

He refused to go up to Heaven. He refused to turn on his angelic transmission.

_“I just want it to be over…”_

Jael, who knew that there was more to read on the tablet, decided it was best to start reading again. There wasn’t too much to read after the trials, just a line or so.

Sam wasn’t handling his missing brother all too well. Dean was an extremely powerful demon psycho killer, which didn’t mean anything good. Sam spent all day and night searching for powerful demon sightings or attacks that might lead to Dean. He didn’t sleep often, didn’t eat often, didn’t drink often and didn’t shower often. He worked and researched with red-rimmed eyes, doing everything he could to look for Dean.

It didn’t take long for him to start attacking the demon packs. Sam hopped in the Impala and drove to Mason City, Iowa, where some suspicious activity was going on that could lead to demons. Sam made sure to also contact other hunters to stay on the lookout, and usually called back with demon sightings. For a week, Sam was on the road to different cities, sleeping in motels and ganking demons daily. So far, there was no sign of Dean, or even any demon that’s seen him. Sam finally took a break and went back to the bunker. He crashed almost immediately.

He was awoken by the sound of his phone ringing in the early morning. He turned on his lamp and sat up, trying to figure out what was going on. As soon as he realized it was his phone, Sam picked it up, noticing it was another hunter.

“Hello?” He answered, trying his best not to sound tired.

“Hey, Sam. I’ve got some demons trapped here and a couple of ‘em seem suspicious and was wonderin’ if you wanted t’ check it out.”

Sam barely thought about it before responding, “Um, yeah. Where are you?”

“I’m over in Denver. Got ‘em in a warehouse south of town. There’s a Sunny Morning Motel a couple miles down the road.” He replied.

Sam scratched his head and pulled the phone from his ear to look at the time.  _5:32 AM_. He held the phone back up and leaned back against the headboard, trying to keep a yawn in. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can. Thanks, Joe.” Sam hung up just after Joe said his goodbyes and finally let out his suppressed yawn. He set his phone down on the table and stood up. Sam pulled on some pants and a shirt, tied his shoes and shrugged on his jacket. He grabbed his already packed duffel bag (more like never unpacked) and exited his room and headed towards the door. He could stop by a diner once he got there, he decided.

Just as he was about to walk up the stairs Gabriel appeared in front of him.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Denver,” Sam snapped back, not in that great of a mood from waking up so early, “what do you want?”

Gabriel put a hand on Sam’s chest and pushed him back so he could get off the stairs. “I want you to take care of yourself, Sam! Look at you!” Gabriel motioned at Sam with his hand. “You got three hours of sleep last night – which by the way, is a record for the past week – and you barely eat, you just got back from another hunt and now you’re going to Denver at five forty in the morning and skipping breakfast.”

Sam scrunched his eyebrows together and frowned, staring at Gabriel with ache. “Gabe, Dean is out there causing havoc and I seem to be the only one who’s trying to help!” Sam yelled back, temper rising quickly.

“I am doing my best to help,” Gabriel started, voice dropping down to a threatening whisper that made the hairs on the back of Sam’s neck stand, “I have my hands full right now, but I am doing all I can to help get your brother back.”

Sam huffed. “Well it seems like all you’re doing is having angel play dates.”

In a swift movement, Gabriel turned and pushed Sam up against the wall and pressed his forearm against his collarbone, keeping Sam pinned against the stonewall of the bunker. Sam dropped his bag and naturally went into combat mode, but didn’t even try to struggle. “They aren’t  _play dates_ , Sammy boy,” Gabriel hissed, voice low, “do you know how it feels to have your family shout things at you,  _things_ that you only heard in the back of your mind,  _things_  you’ve been running from for  _years_  even though you can’t avoid it? Do you know how  _hard_ and  _painful_  it is to face your family when you’re just not ready to, and they degrade you and break you?” Gabriel’s voice rose up to a yell, and the ground began to shake slightly underneath Gabriel’s fury. Sam stared at Gabriel wide-eyed, but Gabriel seemed more frightened than Sam. He stepped back and let go of Sam, staring at the ground, panic displayed on his face.

Sam carefully stood up straight and took a step towards Gabriel. “I’m sorry, I-“

“No,” Gabriel interrupted, gathering strength to look at Sam in the eye, “just… just have breakfast before you go.”

Sam did as he was told and made himself a bagel, which he quickly ate and drank some water to wash it down – (Gabriel saw him with a bottle of beer before that and took it away from him, saying that it was too early to drink.)

Sam set out for Denver at six and arrived at the Sunny Morning Motel at noon, ready for a big lunch. He stopped off for a chicken sandwich at a drive-thru and ate in the car on his way to the warehouse.

The warehouse was empty and abandoned, no longer in good shape for anything it might be needed for.

Except for a demon den, of course.

Joe greeted Sam with a shake of the hand and pat on the back. Joe was an older fellow, in his forties, who was gruff and stubborn but still friendly. “How’ya doing, Sam?”

Sam faked a smile and lied, “I’m okay.”  _I’m going insane because my maniac brother is missing._ “What do you have?”

Joe led Sam inside a smaller room of the warehouse in the back, where he had three demons tied up in a devil’s trap. Sam pulled out his demon knife. “Let’s get working.”

The first demon was stubborn and manipulative, but had no useful information.

The second demon admitted he was tortured by Dean but has no idea where he is now.

The third demon gave in instantly but didn’t have anything to share.

Sam scowled. Nothing new. “Don’t worry,” Joe comforted, “I’m tracking more in their pack that should be coming to their rescue tomorrow morning”

“Alright, see you then.” Sam then left and went back to his motel, utterly exhausted. Hopefully he was going to sleep through the night.

Sam returned to the warehouse the next morning just as he promised. Joe was right; three more demons had come to help out the others, but were promptly captured.

The first demon claimed to have no idea what they were talking about.

The second demon knew about it but had no clue where Dean could’ve gone.

The third demon insisted he saw Dean in Gillette, Wyoming.

“Not sure what he was doing, but it looked pretty suspicious. He was hanging around the back of some theatre, and I think there were angels nearby,” he said, “but that was yesterday.”

Gillette, Wyoming.

Sam calculated the drive; it’d be just over five hours. He could get there before sunset.

“Do you remember the name of the theatre?” Sam questioned.

The demon shifted a bit against the ropes that tied him to the chair. “Gillette Theaters, or something like that.”

Sam nodded and told Joe it’s best he’d be heading off to look for any traces of Dean. Joe wished him good luck and patted him on the shoulder as he left. Sam checked out of the motel, got a quick lunch and started towards Gillette.

It was late evening and the sun was setting when Sam arrived in Gillette. He wasn’t planning to be there long, just enough to check out the scene and see if Dean will come back. He found a motel near the theatre to stay in for a single night.

Sam approached the movie theatre and saw the police cars and police tape. Crime scene.

Sam quickly went back to the motel to change into his FBI Uniform and get his badge, and returned to the crime scene as soon as possible.

“Agent Shaw, FBI,” Sam held up his badge for the police officer. He was using his Styx badge today.

The police officer eyed him suspiciously. “The FBI already came yesterday.”

Sam was used to little set-offs like these. “Oh, well I’m a new recruit and they wanted me to check this one out as well.”

“Alright,” she said, a bit hesitantly.

“Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?”

“Go ahead.”

“What exactly happened, here?” Sam peered around the building but didn’t notice anything.

The officer pointed though the glass door of the theatre. “Two women were killed while exiting the theatre ‘round back.”

“Do you mind if I take a look at the bodies?” Sam asked.

She shook her head. “Sorry, the bodies have already been taken away.”

Sam hummed, then said, “and was there anything weird? Maybe with the bodies, or how it smelled?”

The officer actually didn’t look that surprised at the weird question. “Actually, the bodies’ eyes were practically burned out of their sculls and smelled of sulfur. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Sam was having a hard time deciding if this was good news or bad news.

“Okay, thank you.” Sam said, leaving the crime scene. He needed to tell the rest of them.

He sat down on the uncomfortable motel bed and dialed Cas on his phone. It wasn’t until Cas didn’t pick up he realized how late it was. He knew Cas went to bed strangely early and slept like a rock, so calling him more wouldn’t wake him up any time soon. He also wasn’t going to summon Crowley in his  _motel room_ , so Gabriel was the only way. Didn’t Gabriel turn off his angel radio, though? He probably wouldn’t hear Sam’s prayers… but it was worth a shot.

_Hey Gabe, Cas wouldn’t answer his phone. I don’t know if you can hear me, but it’s worth a shot. I’m in Gillette, Wyoming looking for Dean. My buddy Joe helped me out down in Denver and we got a demon to spill, saying he saw Dean here yesterday. I got a big clue, though; there was a murder at a local movie theatre. Two women’s eyes were burned out of their heads and there was sulfur. I’m guessing Dean was out for a smiting. I’m not sure why, though, two women? Anyways, come when you can. Please._

Sam opened his eyes and glanced around the room. Nobody was there but him. Sighing, he gave in and stripped down to his boxers and went to the bathroom so he could get ready to sleep. When he exited the bathroom, he jumped back a little bit to see Gabriel casually lounging on his bed.

“You heard me,” Sam started, partially in disbelief, “I thought you turned off your angel radio.”

Gabriel raised his eyebrows and tilted his head, mouth pressed together. “I did, but I told you, Sam, I can sense you.” He then noticed Sam wearing only his boxers and jokingly let out a low whistle. “Looking good, Sam.” Sam rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh, throwing on a white t-shirt. “So,” Gabriel started again, “you got something that might lead to Dean?”

Sam nodded. “Yeah, the police officer described the bodies and it sounds to me they got a good smiting. I haven’t seen them myself, though; they’ve already cleared the bodies from the crime scene.” Sam paused and thought for a moment, creasing his eyebrows. He started pacing around the room. “Why would he kill those two women, though? There’d have to be something special about them, I mean, an angel, a demon, something. Why would he kill two random citizens?”

“Did you find out their names?” Gabriel questioned. Sam stopped mid-step.  _No,_ he did not find the names of the women because he was too caught up in the moment. He stood there, not being able to believe he didn’t  _catch their names._  “You didn’t get their names, did you?” Gabriel asked as Sam dropped down on the bed. He wiggled his way up until his head was on the pillow next to Gabriel, mumbling a  _no._  “Fine. Do you think the morgue’s open this late?”

“I don’t know, maybe. What time is it?”

Gabriel looked up at the clock on the wall of the yellow-and-green-striped (which Gabriel thought was horribly ugly) walls. “Twelve forty. Wait, that’s not right,” he squinted his eyes to study the clock, which seemed like it was a mile away, “nine o’clock.”

Sam lightly chuckled. “You can’t read a clock?”

“Shut up, I get confused.” Gabriel defended, childishly crossing his arms.

“Well, maybe it stays open late.” Sam grabbed his computer and pulled it onto his lap. He looked for the nearest morgue; the bodies would most likely be there. It was a few miles away, closer to downtown. Sam changed back into his FBI uniform, as Gabriel was able to wish one upon his body at will. Sam was just about to reach for the keys to the Impala when Gabriel put a hand on Sam’s forearm and teleported them right outside the morgue. Sam jerked upon seeing that the dining table had turned into a trashcan, but then realized he was in a hospital.

“At least warn me when you’re going to do that.” Sam said, pulling at the hem of his jacket. The two of them entered the morgue, which was open, and was greeted by the pathologist.

Sam and Gabriel pulled out their badge at the same time. “Agents DeYoung and Shaw, FBI.” Said Gabriel. He sent a smirk towards Sam at their matching Styx FBI names.

“We’re here to investigate the bodies that were killed at the theatre, yesterday.” Sam added.

The young pathologist nodded. “Right this way,” she said, guiding them to where the bodies were stored. She pulled out the two women and Gabriel gasped slightly. Sam tilted his head and Gabriel gave him a ‘wait until she’s gone’ look.

“What were their names?” Sam inquired.

The pathologist motioned towards the woman on the left. “This is Amelia Chan. She’s thirty-two years old.” She then looked at the other woman. “And this is Jodi Battle, thirty-nine.” Sam stared down at the two women, their expression frozen from when they died. Shock. When Sam looked at them, their burnt out eyes and mouth, he could only see Kevin underneath his hand.

The pathologist talked for a bit before leaving Sam and Gabriel on their own.

“They’re angels.” Gabriel blurted out.

“What?”

“They’re angels. They were, anyways. I can see their broken halos. They must’ve been the next angels on our list that we couldn’t find.” Gabriel explained, circling his hand above their faces when he mentioned the halos.

Sam was startled with realization. “That means Dean is trying to get to the angels before us to kill them.”

“Oh no,” Gabriel whispered. Sam blinked and he was gone. He felt a pinch of betrayal but then Gabriel was back. “Sorry.” He said quickly before grabbing Sam and leaving again, teleporting them back to the motel. “This is very bad. Good, because we have a way to somewhat track him, but still, very, very bad.” Gabriel paced around the room, then suddenly looked over at Sam. “Get in the car.”

“What?"

“Get in the car.” He repeated, tone more demanding. Sam confusedly grabbed all of his belongings and exited the motel, putting his things in the backseat. Gabriel soon followed, sitting next to Sam in the passenger’s seat.

“Um, where do you want me to go?” Sam asked hesitantly. Gabriel closed his eyes and suddenly their surroundings changed.

“Nowhere.” He opened the door and stepped out, Sam following. They were back at the bunker.

Sam walked behind Gabriel as they went inside. It was empty and dimly lit; Cas and Jael were asleep. Gabriel marched right into Cas’ room, where he lay on his side in a peaceful sleep. “Rise and shine, little brother, we’ve got work to do!” Cas moved around a bit in his sleep and mumbled something. Gabriel frowned. “Castiel!” he boomed so loud and echo-y Sam almost had to cover his ears.

Cas shifted around and mumbled, “Go away, Gabriel,” without even opening his eyes.

Gabriel sighed and turned towards Sam. “He’s so stubborn.”

Sam couldn’t help but let out a sad laugh, remembering a time this happened with Dean. “We’ll have to wait until morning.”

Sam and Gabriel left Cas’ room and stood in the hall. “Well,” Gabriel started, sighing a bit, “I’m going to maybe read or something, you should get some rest.”

Sam nodded. “Okay. Goodnight, Gabe.”

“Night Sammich.”

Gabriel started off towards the library, but Sam didn’t move. He started to feel hot and uncomfortable. He needed to be somewhere cold.

 _Dungeon. The dungeon is cold._  He thought. Sam, almost in a haze, made his way down to the dungeon and sat against the cool wall. He closed his eyes and took in deep breaths. Everything felt like it was spiraling downhill; Dean only becoming worse and worse and killing everything that came in his way; the problem with the angels; the tablet seemingly  _not working_  as it should have; Cas being human; Crowley being suspicious; Gabriel remembering what it’s like to be an archangel; being yelled at for his mental health. Sure, Gabriel can sense his emotions, but maybe not as deep as he thought. The past two weeks seemed like a blur of black eyes, knives, blood, car rides, motels, and frustration. Threats echoed in his mind, darkness returned in his eyes. Sam thought about how much he slept the past two weeks. Probably, like, nine hours in total. He thought about what he ate and drank. Diner food, right? Some snacks. He probably had more alcohol than water. His mouth felt dry. Sam groaned. Crowley was right. Gabriel was right. He wasn’t taking care of himself.

Another wave of depression hit him as he opened his eyes. He was supposed to be a lawyer. His job was to argue with people. Instead, what, he becomes a serial killer who’s been to hell and back? Sam’s eyes wandered around the grey dungeon. Something caught his eye.

Sam looked over, close to the door, and saw the bottle of blood that Dean had left. He stared at it emotionlessly. Some sort of decision was made in his head; he wasn’t sure how, it just kind of… happened. Sam stood up and made his way over to the bottle. He picked it up by the neck and examined it in the dark of the dungeon.  _Why not?_

Sam stared at it for a moment before unscrewing the cap and sniffing it.  _Dean’s blood._

Sam pressed the bottle to his lips and closed his eyes.  _Why not?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /maniacal laughter/ so, did you see where I was going? It frustrates me that I see this idea across tumblr, because I'll just kind of stare at it and think, "I thought of your theory weeks ago" (even though it's just now being uploaded).  
> Anyways, sorry for the long wait! I've been having trouble writing chapter eighteen (which will be short, by the way) but I finally wrote something so here you go. A nice, long chapter. Next chapter may be short, but you get some Dean and Crowley. 
> 
> ily all • please comment  
> -Cameron


	18. Gray

He could see their halos from the other side of the park; large, bright, shimmering white halos that shone around their heads. They sat alone together on a park bench, the darkness of the night nearly consuming them. To Dean, without their wings, angels appear weak and helpless. They may not be powerless, but they were surely less powerful than him.

The two angels talked quietly to each other while the rest of the town slept, leaving the night quiet and prosaic. The angels – a male and a female vessel – did neither see Dean nor sense his presence. It was rather easy to sneak up behind them. Just as they noticed the figure looming behind them, Dean placed his hands on each of their faces and their eyes and mouth lit up with a luminous red light. Barely a scream escaped their throats before they were dead. He carelessly watched as their bodies slumped back down onto the bench and their halos flickered out.

It hadn’t taken much effort to track down the angels; with the little grace he had in his body, Dean could just barely tell where some angels were on earth. It was kind of like looking through somebody else’s glasses: he could see, but he couldn’t  _see_.

He knew Cas and Gabriel were tracking down the angels. Dean could see them too, if he wanted. Currently, Cas was sleeping and Gabriel was hopelessly bored by himself in the library.

Something from the east caught Dean’s eye – a sliver of orange light. The sun was coming up. In just a few hours the angel and ex-angel would be up to see that Dean had already gotten to the next angels, as well as the next, and the next.

It was exactly a day later when Dean stood over another now-dead angel alone in their apartment. Dean smirked, just slightly, and began to turn around. However, he was met with the barrel of a gun. His eyes flickered up to face of the person holding the gun. His mind just barely registered the name  _Crowley_  before a gunshot rung through the room. Dean felt a sudden pain blossom in his neck, but it only had the sting of a paper cut.

“What the-“ he managed, rubbing at the bullet wound in his neck, “Crowley? Why did you- you know that won’t hurt me, ri-“ Dean stopped as he tried to take a step towards Crowley, who had now lowered his gun and looked rather pleased with himself.

“You like it?” Crowley mused, looking down at the gun in his hands, “I learned it from Abaddon. Clever, isn’t it?”

Dean tried to move but seemed to be bound to the spot he stood in by some internal barrier. “What did you do?” he growled, eyes turning black.

Crowley chuckled slightly. “You don’t remember? The devil’s trap is carved into the bullet. It  _was_  your idea in the first place, wasn’t it?” Crowley was fairly amused by the situation and Dean’s ignorance. Dean just let out an irked grumble. “Don’t worry; I know the feeling. Frustrating isn’t it?”

“What do you want?” Dean managed, very annoyed with Crowley’s behavior, tone, attitude,  _him_.

“You.” Crowley replied before teleporting them both down to the darkest dungeons of hell. Dean stood alone in a stone room, devil’s traps on every flat surface. No doors, windows or openings of any sort were in the small closet of a room. Still, iron bars surrounded the walls. The room had a horrible stench of salt, sweat and sulfur. “This room’s my favourite.” Crowley’s voice rang through the dungeon, as if it were playing from an intercom. Dean did his best to look around – Crowley was definitely not in there, nor in his mind through telepathy. “In case you were wondering, which I know you are, it’s kind of like an intercom system, but through the walls, I suppose. I’m not too good with this type of stuff, but I don’t think it matters too much, anyhow.”

“Get me out of here!” Dean yelled, eyes still black with anger. His whole body seemed to fume with rage.

Crowley ignored him. “This dungeon is one step under Lucifer’s cage. However, that room was booked, so this was the best I could give you.” Dean could practically hear the smirk in Crowley’s voice.

“How did you find me?” Dean muttered, giving in slightly. The sooner he accepted that’s he’s not going anywhere, the, well, less angry he’d feel.

Crowley sighed. “You may be violently unpredictable, but you’re still Dean.”

“Meaning?”

“You started to go after the angels, Dean. Next time, I suggest choosing them at random rather than going down the list.” There was a moment of silence as Dean shamed himself for his mistake. Dean could faintly hear Crowley take a deep breath. “You’re gray, Dean.”

Dean’s face twisted. “The hell do you mean, I’m  _gray_?”

“The third trial. The grace will heal your demonic soul and turn you somewhat human again. Demon smoke is black. Angel’s forms are white. Black and white together make grey. God, Dean, don’t they teach you this stuff in kindergarten?”

Dean suppressed a groan and rolled his eyes. “So what? My smoke’s changing colour. Plus, the grace made me  _stronger_.”

“Dean, you’re getting  _weaker_. Sure you got stronger, but your powers are slowly draining away to nothing. They’re going to find you.”

Dean huffed. “You’re saying you’re helping me? By what, locking me up so I don’t get caught?” Dean sounded annoyed yet somewhat amused at the same time. “You’re  _on their side_.”

“It’s not your decision on whose side I’m on. I’m not going to tell them.” Crowley sounded like a scolding mother.

“So why’d you lock me up down here?”

“I can’t trust you until you can trust me.” Crowley responded simply, though there was more behind what he said. Dean knew. “Plus, it’s fun to watch them all slowly go insane.” Dean couldn’t help but laugh weakly at this. “Anyways,” Crowley continued, “have fun in there and stay safe. I’ll check in on you every once in awhile.”

“You sound like my mom.” Dean muttered, mostly to himself.

“Your mother’s dead, darling, and apparently I currently have to be the replacement.” There was the slightest hint of frustration in his voice, even though he was obviously joking.

“Well you’re a piss poor excuse of a replacement.” Dean sneered, but there was no reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been taking me forever to update! School is starting soon and I've just been busy. Anyways, there's a longer chapter next.  
> Expect longer waits inbetween chapters as it is taking me longer than usual to write.
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	19. Trickster vs. Archangel

“Arakiba?”

Gabriel closed his eyes. “Dead.”

Castiel brought the list up in his head again. “Satqiel and Shamsiel?”

“Can’t find them either.”

Castiel’s eyebrows lifted in worry. “Elyon? Micah? Andromeda?”

Voice strained, Gabriel replied, “Gone.”

Castiel sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I don’t get it. Why would he want the angels?” Castiel and Gabriel sat in the bunker; Jaelynna sat with the tablet in front of her at the end of the table, Gabriel and Castiel not even noticing her. Sam was once again gone, having left without explanation.

“You’re leaving again?” Gabriel had asked, standing at the doorway to Sam’s room, where Sam was collecting his things. “Where are you going?”

“Out.” Sam replied, doing his best to ignore Gabriel.

“Out  _where_?” Gabriel scowled, not taking any of Sam’s excuses.

Sam finally looked up at Gabriel. “Just out,” he said, and then focused back on the clothing he was stuffing into his duffel.

Gabriel stepped further into Sam’s room. “You aren’t a rebellious teenager, Sam. Just tell me where you’re going, what am I going to do?”

Sam placed his red flannel shirt into his bag and stood up straight, a blank expression on his face. “You’re an archangel.” He said simply, every answer he could come back with wrapped up in three words.

“I prefer trickster,” Gabriel replied, a small smile playing on his lips. He began to wander around the room towards Sam. “Anyways, you just got back and we have a lead on Dean. Why do you need to go back out?” Sam didn’t say anything. He just stared at Gabriel with the same blank expression on his face. Gabriel sighed. Just as he opened his mouth again, Sam finally spoke.

“There’s a demon pack a little ways east of here and I’m going to check it out.”

An unreadable expression came across Gabriel’s face. Sam studied it and could only think of one word to describe the look Gabriel was giving Sam. Disappointment. “Sam, we know how we might be able to track Dean. Cas’ll be up soon, we can work on this together.”

“You can work on this together,” Sam said, picking up his duffel bag, “but I’m going to see what the demons know. It’s best to search from different sources, right?” Sam pushed past Gabriel and out the door, leaving Gabriel standing alone in the middle of Sam’s room, not even trying to go after him.

Gabriel now sat with Cas.

“I don’t know,” Gabriel replied after a pause, remembering to answer the question Cas had asked, “what will Hannah think, though? Won’t she be upset that the angels are being killed?”

Cas closed his eyes again, but this time out of exhaustion. “Probably. I don’t know. I don’t care. I just want all of this to be over.”

“I know the feeling,” Gabriel mumbled, just loud enough for Cas to hear. Cas was about to open his mouth to respond – apologize – anything, when a small gasp came from Jaelynna. Both Cas and Gabriel turned their head simultaneously to look at the young girl who sat in front of the tablet, mouth agape.

“What is it?” Cas asked.

Jael grinned at her notebook as she finished the sentence she was translating. She put her pencil on the paper and slid the book across the table to the boys.

Gabriel reached out for it first and read what followed the third trial.

“What is it?” Cas repeated.

“I can heal Dean…” Gabriel gasped, forcing his eyes back over the sentence over and over, as if he hadn’t read it correctly.

“What?”

“I can heal Dean!” Gabriel’s shock quickly turned into excitement, eyes growing wide along with his smile, laughing victoriously. He hastily turned the notebook towards Cas so he could read it. “Look, it says once Dean is completely human an archangel can heal off the Mark,” Gabriel jabbed his finger on the paper where the sentence was written as Cas read it over. A grin slowly appeared on Cas’ face and his eyes lit up for the first time in years.

“We can cure Dean,” he breathed, mimicking Gabriel’s actions of enthusiasm, “we have to tell Sam!”

Gabriel’s excitement faded almost as quickly as it had appeared. “I don’t think he’s exactly wanting company, Cas.”

Cas’ eyebrows creased together as he looked across the table at Gabriel. “Why not? We are bringing him good news. I think you should go and tell him.”

Gabriel quickly scanned the country to find Sam’s location; he was about 70 miles east, as he had said, in Concordia, Kansas. He was eating some carry out lunch in his motel silently at the table in their kitchenette. He looked better than he had in the past week: healthier and stronger.

Gabriel contemplated the idea for a moment. “Okay. I guess you’re right.” Gabriel met eyes with Cas as they both stood up. “I’ll be right back, Cas, unless you want to come?”

Cas paused for a second and then shook his head. “No, it’s alright,” he started to turn towards the hall and pointed, “I’m going to take a shower.”

Gabriel nodded. “See you in a bit.”

It was around nine in the morning when he arrived in Concordia. Other hunters were still calling Sam about demon packs; this one had been from a hunter named Alex. She didn’t even hang around when Sam got there; she gave him a pat on the back and took off to find more demons in the town. Sam didn’t think too much of it.

There are about 9 demons in a pack, but some of them must have escaped or died because Alex only captured five.They all stood together stuck in a demon’s trap painted on a throw rug in the motel Alex was staying at. It took her about a week to get these few together, which wasn’t bad. Alex, the fair woman that she was, already prepared the bathroom for interrogations.

Sam grabbed at one of the demons – a young woman with fiery red hair and large black-rimmed glasses – and folded the corner of the rug over the circle of the trap with his foot quickly enough so he could pull her out without another demon escaping.

The demon twisted her arm so Sam’s arm would also twist. He bent his back and tried to twist his body so his arm wouldn’t hurt by reflex, but then stopped himself and kicked the demon in the back of the legs, sending her flying towards the ground. Sam pulled her back up, got a good grip on both of her wrists and forced her into the wooden chair placed in the center of the small bathroom, with another devil’s trap beneath it.

Sam brought along the empty glass bottle along with two flasks. He got out his knife and drilled into the demon’s skin with the tip of the knife. Sam had to hold back him temptations and focus on putting blood into the first bottle.

“What are you doing?” she hissed through clenched teeth, leering down at Sam.

Sam dug the knife deep into her skin and she let out a small screech. After a few minutes, Sam filled up the entire glass bottle. Deciding to fill the flasks up on the other demons, Sam shifted so he was in front of the girl.

“Do you know where Dean Winchester is?” Sam inquired, trying to look into her eyes but couldn’t because the ceiling light was reflecting off her lenses.

“Last time I saw Dean Winchester he was prancing around with you slaughtering my people.” She growled. Sam sliced the knife deeply along her thigh; causing a scream to erupt from her throat, blood soaking her denim jeans. “I really don’t know where he is-“ she choked, struggling to get out of the chair she was tied down in.

“You haven’t heard anything?” Sam asked.

The demon breathed shakily and shook her head. “Nothing but rumours, really.”

“What have you heard?” he demanded. She shook her head. “What have you heard?” Sam repeated, voice more demanding. She still didn’t say anything. Sam sighed, grabbed the knife, and stabbed into her leg right above her knee. The demon let out an ear-shattering shriek so high Sam almost had to cover his ears.

Tears ran down her face. “Lots of things; I’ve heard he’s been torturing, I’ve heard he’s been killing demons, I’ve heard he’s been killing angels, I’ve heard he’s been killing everything.  _I don’t know._  I most recently heard that somebody spotted him with Crowley, but I don’t know if anything is true.” She sobbed.

Sam, satisfied with the answer, led the limping demon back out the door. He did the same with the next demon, but learned nothing new. He collected his blood into the first flask, hands trembling. Sam got the third demon, receiving the same answers. This time, while filling the final flask, Sam couldn’t hold it back any longer. It was only halfway full when he broke and put the flask to his lips.

The thick, warm blood filled his mouth and slid easily down his throat. To Sam, it felt as if the blood was flowing into his own veins and powering him, recharging his batteries, making him stronger. Sam could feel his entire body buzzing as he finished the flask. He barely heard the demon’s shouts of “ _what’re you doing?_ ” and “ _you’re mad!”_  and  _“what the hell?”_

His lips twitched, hardly able to resist the taste of demon blood once again flowing through him. He needed  _more_. He stabbed the demon again without hesitation and filled the flask up again. This time, he was able to steady his shaking body and put the flask aside, going back to getting answers out of the demons.

Nothing new.

When Sam was done, he called Alex to let her know he was down. It was early afternoon and Sam hadn’t had anything to eat.

He got a motel room for the day then went out to find lunch somewhere. He settled on a drive-thru and brought it back to his motel. Sam made sure the blood was put away so he wouldn’t be tempted to drink it and sat down at the extremely ugly table in the extremely ugly kitchenette. He opened up the bag of fast food and began to eat it, only focusing on shoving his food into his body.

“Watcha drinking, there?” A voice asked from across the table, startling Sam. He looked up to see Gabriel inspecting Sam’s cup of soda. Sam didn’t even try to stop him, knowing it was useless. “Coke?” he asked as he lifted the lid and sniffed the caramel liquid in the Styrofoam cup. He proceeded to take a sip through the straw. “Coke zero.” He corrected himself, scrunching up his nose in disgust.

“What do you want, Gabe?” Sam asked with a sigh.

Gabriel put down the drink and looked at Sam in a more serious matter. “Jaelynna read more of the tablet. Turns out there’s a final step after the third trial in order to  _actually_  cure Dean.” He started.

Sam perked up. “What is it?”

“An archangel has to heal the Mark off.” Gabriel said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“What?” Sam asked quickly, leaning forward on the table and dropping his fork.

Gabriel nodded. “Yep, kiddo. Once we get Dean I can heal the Mark right off. He’ll be as good as new… hopefully.”

Sam couldn’t help but smile. “This is great, Gabe.” A small laugh escapes Sam.

“Do you want to come back to the bunker?” Gabriel offered, but then added, “You know, if you’re done with your demon stuff and all.”

Sam nods. “Can we take the car?”

“Sure,” Gabriel replies, heading towards the door, “I’ll meet you out there.” The door shuts behind Gabriel. Sam collects his things, sure to remember the flasks. He quickly checks out of the motel and hops into the driver’s seat of the Impala. He gets the keys out of his pocket when Gabriel speaks up again. “I can just, you know, zap us over.” He suggested.

Sam paused for a moment then shook his head. “No, I’d rather drive. Is that alright?”

“Yeah.” Gabriel agreed. Sam put the car in drive and drove off.

They arrived back at the bunker an hour and a half later. Cas was entertaining a rather bored Jaelynna, who lit up to see Sam and Gabriel back. Just as they were getting settled a voice piped up from the back of the room.

“Hello, boys.”

Everyone whipped around to see Crowley standing there with a sly grin on his face.

“Did you find anything?” Cas asked.

Crowley shrugged. “Nothing new. Hell’s hell. I figured I’d check in with you, though.”

“We found out that once Dean’s neutralized I can heal the Mark off.” Gabriel quickly explained. Sam cringed, remembering that the one demon heard rumours about Dean being spotted with Crowley.

Crowley hummed. “Well that’s good. Anyways, I’ll come back later.” He was gone.

The three men narrowed their eyes in suspicion but decided to ignore it for now. He  _did_  say he was on their side, didn’t he?

For the rest of the day, Gabriel did his best to ignore the strange buzz that seemed to come from Sam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray, I have a chapter up! It is finally weekend and I can write! First week of school was super long, but hey, so will the rest of the year.  
> This story will probably have about 25 chapters (anywhere around there really), so it will be ending soon. I'm not sure how long it will take me to finish writing, though. I've had an ending in mind for awhile (very specific, too) so hopefully you guys will like it. 
> 
> JUST IN CASE ANYONE IS WONDERING MY NEXT FANFIC WILL BE AMAZING OKAY  
> I'm hoping to start a SerialKiller!AU where Sam and Dean are serial killers, carve their initials into their victims, but only seem to kill "bad" people, such as abusers. They (almost reluctantly) meet Castiel, who is in a secret mafia type thing where they all have angel code names. I'm super excited for this fic, so please let me know if you're interested in reading it when I publish. I don't know when it'll be expected, but if you have a tumblr I do make updates for anything about it in the skaufanfic tag. 
> 
> So yeah. Thanks for reading this chapter (and this AN)
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	20. Battle

The bullet wound in his neck began to grow more painful as time went on. Dean was still unable to move in the dungeon, which was staring to feel stuffy. As Dean focused on digging his fingers into his neck, the easily ignored sting grew to hurt so much Dean heard his heart pounding in his head. The pain only increased when Dean moved ever so slightly to try to pull out the bullet. His fingers were slippery with warm blood as he felt around for the bullet. His nail tapped against something that definitely wasn't apart of his body, so he pinched it with the tips of his fingers and pulled it out. It was a slow process, considering his sense of pain was slowly and achingly returning. The bullet was finally out of his neck, which took quite a while to do. Dean lost his sense of time in the dungeon, leaving him unknowing of how much time has passed. Crowley had yet to check in on him as he had promised, not that Dean really cared

Dean was now free to walk around the dungeon, or at least however much he could walk around with the devil's traps on the floor. Either way, the dungeon was only about the size of a walk-in closet. Dean walked along the walls, dragging his fingers around the iron bars, creating a drumming noise as he passed along. He could only take about two steps per wall, so his pacing barely helped his boredom. The room was nearly pitch-black but Dean could see pretty well, or at least enough to vaguely make out his feet.

The harsh pain in his neck was slowly fading, but Dean knew it took a lot of his power to heal his wounds. It was almost as if he could see a little warning symbol in the corner of his vision telling him to refuel soon. If he used the rest of his power to heal immediately and lessen the pain, he would most likely be completely drained of whatever power he had left.

The angel and demon inside of Dean were having a battle. They both went at each other constantly, using energy to fend the other off, as well as heal the body they were powering. Dean often used his powers to kill, teleport, and other things, which also drained out his energy. The ever-going battle inside of him was coming to a draw, and will eventually kill each other, leaving the body to itself. Dean's soul would be free and human again.

But not just yet. The battle was still in progress. Dean was still both a demon and an angel at once, and his surging power was dying down, and he could feel it, too. Once numb pain was blossoming back to life and leaving Dean with an aching headache. Once healing injuries were left as open wounds. Dean felt so entirely  _human_. His body was fragile and exhausted. The voice he was heard in the back of his head was no longer there to taunt him and torture him. Lucifer's provoking voice was all he heard, until it slowly started to turn into a voice that Dean could not put a face to.

The Mark was still on his arm, painted into his skin. It was almost like a reminder.  _This did everything to you. This made you more powerful. This is a reminder to what you really are. No matter what happens, this always binds you to power. You can rule heaven. You can rule hell._

Not only did it remind him of the better things, it also reminded him of the worse.  _You hurt your family. You became the one thing they wanted to lock up forever. They will never forgive you. They will never love you again. They never loved you._

"How're you doing?" The English voice broke the solid silence, starling Dean slightly.

"I'd like to get the hell out of here." Dean nearly yelled, looking around the dark room, as if there was a security camera where Crowley could see him.

"I asked how you were, not what you'd like," Crowley corrected. Dean just grunted in response, not even bothering with a snarky reply. The silence returned, and for a moment Dean thought Crowley left, until he observed, "you're almost human, Dean." Dean could feel eyes boring into the back of his head even though nobody was even there.

"I could tell," Dean spat back, rubbing at the almost-sealed wound in his neck. "How much longer do I have to stay in here anyways? I feel like it's been two months."

"Two days, actually," Crowley responded, "your dungeon is special; every hour in here is merely a minute out there. Time goes by faster, which makes you heal faster. Easy peasy."

Dean scrunched up his face and wrapped his hands around the iron bars against the wall. "When will you let me out?" he growled.

He heard Crowley hum. "Nuh-uh-uhh," he scolded, and Dean could imagine him waving a finger in his face, "a villain never reveals his plans."

* * *

The angels had stopped disappearing, but Gabriel and Cas were too worn out to go look for them. Gabriel had expected the word to get around in Heaven that big brother Gabe was back, but so far, no angels had come to visit him. Gabriel was shocked but nevertheless relieved, hoping to stay out of contact with angels.

Cas was now usually the one to spend time with Jael. As an eight-year-old, she was often bored and needed forms of entertainment. Cas allowed her to use the things Gabriel created for her, such as the television and children's books, and spent time with her in the library and during meals. Cas made her PB&J's (which had also grown on him again) every day for lunch, and salvaged up their leftovers for dinner. Sometimes Gabriel or Sam would bring home food, though.

At one point, when Jael had finished translating the tablet, Cas asked her, "So, do you think you're ready to go home?"

Jael shook her head. "No, I don't have a home," this made Cas' heart ache, "though Sam said he could take me to my momma," she paused, then looked up into Cas' fading blue eyes, "but I want to see how we get to the happy ending."

Cas frowned. "Jael, I hate to tell you this, but happy endings don't always happen in real life."

A small smile appeared on her lips. "But everyone deserves one."

And then Cas smiled.

* * *

Cas often looked weary. Loads of troubles and worries sat on his shoulders as he tries to hike up a mountain. Cas slept like a rock, but often managed to roll out of bed in the early morning. He got a full night's worth of sleep, but missed a lot of it through his lifetime. His body needed to catch up a few years worth of running.

Cas and Gabriel both shared the same intense worry for Sam, who seemed a bit off at times. Gabriel, being the only one left with immortality, was the only one who was able to visit Sam when he was gone.

Although Cas could observe Sam, Gabriel could  _feel_  him. Gabriel could feel the buzz that came from him, all the energy that didn't have a way to get out. Sam was absorbing power that he couldn't let out. No matter how much he tried to ignore it, he couldn't. It was so strong that it felt like it was leaking into himself. Gabriel tried to ignore it. He tried to act like it wasn't what he thought it was.

* * *

Sam only had the two flasks left. He drank the bottle earlier in the day, not being able to wait any longer. He knew that at this rate, the others would surely find out. Gabriel could  _sense_  him, so surely he knew. Sam wondered why he didn't say anything about it.

The demon blood tasted metallic in his mouth and painted his teeth crimson.

None of the blood tasted like his brother's blood, though.

Dean's blood tasted like, well,  _Dean_. It was like he could feel everything about Dean while drinking his blood; his musk, his rough hands, his weary voice, his sandy hair, his apple eyes, Dad's leather jacket that he never wears anymore, the taste of his hand when you lick it when he places it over your mouth, the way he cooks burgers, the way he hums along to his music,  _everything_. He could feel it all when Dean's blood went down his throat and repowered his body in the most natural way.

None of the other demon blood did that. He couldn't feel their life story when he ingested their blood. Only Dean's. And he craved  _more_. More of his brother's thick blood. It sent chills down his spine and a smirk on his lips. It brought Dean's characteristics inside of Sam, and Sam  _loved_  it.

For now, though, he only had two flasks left of regular demon blood. He had to preserve them carefully and savour them while he had them.

* * *

"I still think Crowley is up to something," Gabriel brought up during dinner; frozen pepperoni pizza that was discovered in the freezer.

Sam nodded in agreement, barely picking at his pizza. "Yeah, one of the demons yesterday said that they heard rumours of Dean being seen with Crowley."

Cas swallowed before suggesting, "Maybe we should summon him to find out what he's hiding, if there's anything to hide."

"I heard my name," a voice rang from the end of the table. Crowley sat casually as if he had been there the whole time, holding a glass of whiskey in his hand.

"Well that was convenient, and rather suspicious," Gabriel muttered into his cup before downing the rest of the water.

"What do you four need?" Crowley asked, setting the glass on the table with a slight  _clink_  and sitting up straight, folding his arms on the table.

"A demon the other day told me you were seen with Dean," Sam starts, staring at a slightly amused Crowley, "is that true?"

Crowley calmly closed his eyes and didn't say anything. The three grown men in the room shared glances but didn't say anything. Crowley then let out a disapproving hum. "That blasted Eric was spying on me! That little- once I get my hands on him, I'll-"

"Crowley," Gabriel interrupted, "what the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh, yes," Crowley continued, getting back on track. "I found Dean and placed him in a dungeon in hell. He's currently down there bored out of his mind. Time goes by quicker down there, so it's probably seemed like half a year to him by now. He's almost human by the way, just a little bit of angel and demon left." Crowley spoke so quickly it was almost too hard for the others to keep up.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Cas snapped, voice rising with anger.

"I was waiting," Crowley snapped back, aiming his anger towards the former angel. "He's not human yet, so there's no use trying to cure him now. You will have to wait a few days, but no worries, he's safe with me."

"So? It would have been nice to know!" Sam yelled.

Crowley paused for a moment to cool down, as well as the others. "Well you do now," he finally continued, "I told him that I was not working with you, but he most likely still expects me to turn him in to you." He tilted his head down slightly and scanned over the others wide-eyed to make sure they were listening. "I suggest I "accidentally" let him escape, " Crowley began to explain, making air quotes around  _accidentally_ , "and somehow lead him here. By the time this happens, he will have very little power left. He will be weak and nearly human. All you have to do," with this he turned to Gabriel, "is heal him."

Gabriel nodded, followed by Sam and Cas. "How are we going to lead him here?" Cas inquired.

Crowley smirked. "That, my friend, is why we need a plan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have finally updated after another long week. I promise there will be another chapter posted soon. The climax is almost here, so that means the story will be drawing to an end. I'm very excited for upcoming chapters, though I am sad that we will be finishing up soon. Either way, I'm still super pumped for my next fanfic.
> 
> Happy Labor Day!
> 
> ily all,  
> -Cameron


	21. The Lack of Samwise the Brave

There was nothing but darkness. The inaudible ticking of an imaginary clock was the only sound to be heard. Nothing but darkness, darkness, darkness.

There was no more energy. Nothing left to feel alive, just enough to wallow in thoughts you didn’t have time to think about.

It was like Frodo, steps away from the entrance of Mount Doom. There was nothing left; it was _right there_ , but nothing to pull you up by the hand and guide you to the resolution of all problems. Only surrounded by thick, muggy, _hot_ air, nearly too thick to walk through, and darkness, occasionally getting the feeling someone was watching, _knowing_ _someone_ was watching. There was a silence that was so _awfully loud_ that it didn’t feel like silence at all. Invisible armies kept the enemy distracted. _Darkness, darkness, darkness._

It was but an illusion that made the time pass so quickly, yet every moment was achingly slow; Breathing in nothing but smoke and fire.

It was in these moments where you start to forget. The memories of home forgotten. The sound of water, touch of grass, and taste of strawberries were wiped from existence. There was no Samwise the Brave to bring the facts back into existence. No companion to carry you the rest of the way.

_‘Do you remember that bit of rabbit, Mr. Frodo?’ he said. ‘And our place under the warm bank in the Captain Faramir’s country, the day I saw an oliphaunt?’_

_‘No, I am afraid not, Sam’ said Frodo. ‘At least, I know that such things happened, but I cannot see them. No taste of food, no feel of water, no sound of wind, no memory of tree or grass or flower, no image of moon or star are left to me. I am naked in the dark, Sam, and there is no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I begin to see it even with my waking eyes, and all else fades.’_

_Sam went to him and kissed his hand. ‘Then the sooner we’re rid of it, the sooner to rest,’ he said haltingly, finding no better words to say._

Suddenly, there was light.

It was unknown to Dean whether it had grown from a speck, or abruptly popped into reality, but it didn’t seem to matter. Hot light flooded the room, bright and white with a fiery red tint. The whoosh of air that rushed in reeked of sweat and blood and contained screams, and it was warm and thick, but nevertheless fresh to the stuffed-up dungeon.

The light did not dim, nor did Dean’s eyes get used to the sudden light. He didn’t give much thought to the questions that his brain was screaming out. _Is that the way out? Why is it open? Who opened it? Did Crowley let me out? Did someone else? Was it on accident or on purpose? Where will it take me?_

Dean felt some strength return. He brought himself up onto his knees, then hoisted up onto his feet, clutching the iron bars for support. Dean squinted into the light and staggered closer, trying to look past through it.

Hell had layers. Dean was located just outside the core, just outside the cage. If he concentrated, Dean could just barely make out levels of hell through the bright light of the door. A shiver crawled up Dean’s spine, and suddenly he stood up straight. Still squinting, he used the last bit of hell-drained strength to walk into the light.

For a moment, everything was bright. Slowly, it started to fade. He saw trees around the edge of his vision. The sky was a soft blue and the sun off to the east. It was morning. He turned his head, and then from the corner of his eye he saw it. _His car_.

The Impala looked as if it hadn’t been cleaned in years, though usually, when Dean was there, he made sure it was washed every couple of months. Usually more.

The whiteness started to fade into his surroundings. The bunker.

Dean cursed under his breath.

The door to the bunker sat right there in the hill like a Hobbit Hole. They were surely waiting in there for him. Dean cleared his throat as he stared at the door, wondering how long it was since the last time he spoke. Then he wondered why he was thinking of such a thing.

In his gut, Dean knew that this had been set up. He did not arise in hell when he left the dungeon. He did not appear in the park at which he vanished from oh-so-long ago. He was at the bunker. Their supernatural Batcave.

The door must have been cursed, he concluded. The door leading out of the dungeon must have been cursed to lead him here. Of course it was Crowley who opened the door.

There was nowhere left to go. Dean had to go inside to get the keys to the car. He could not muster up the power to teleport somewhere else. He was weak, and whether he wanted to admit it out loud or not, he knew it.

There was no other choice. So many thoughts buzzed around in Dean’s head, but he felt as if they were only background music. Dean descended down the metal stairs and stopped in front of the door. A bubble of slight distress popped in his body. What if the door was locked? Would he knock on the door, or just sit outside and wait for Sam to come out, leaving to retrieve snacks?

The anxiety drained out of him when he wrapped his fingers around the doorknob and turned. The door opened.

He pushed it open slowly, and it creaked as it did so. Most of the time, they swung the door so quickly they barely heard the distressed moan of the hinges. Dean cringed, knowing the sound echoed through the whole bunker. Dean first saw the distant, warm lights of the table lamps and relaxed. For the most recent years of his life, the bunker was home. Safe, permanent, and room for family. This was home.

Forgetting that five others lurked about in the underground home, Dean wandered in and closed the door behind him. He was careful and slow, stepping down the metal staircase without a sound. His eyes strayed from his feet as he reached the wooden floor, vision sweeping about the familiar main room of the bunker. Nobody was there, not yet. The tables were clean; no open books (or closed, for that matter), no stray papers, no forgotten glasses of water, no notebook, and no tablet.

Something red caught his eye as he took another step forward. He cursed under his breath again. Dean stood in a devil’s trap, freshly painted the night before on the smooth, dark floor.

“Well, well, well, looky here,” a smooth voice drawled, starling Dean from his discomfort. He whipped around towards the voice and saw nothing, and then turned back to face the rest of the bunker, where he saw Crowley standing next to the table. “I see you’ve found your way back to Kansas.” Crowley had a smirk playing at his lips, eyes staring directly into Dean’s.

“You let me out, didn’t you?” Dean asked, choosing the most relevant question that swirled in his head. “You cursed the door to bring me back here.”

Crowley shook his head, looking slightly amused. “I put a _spell_ on it,” he corrected, “so that when you passed through, it took you where you most desired to go, even if you didn’t realize it.”

Dean’s eyebrows creased together in thought. “How’d you know if I wanted to go here?” Crowley said nothing; he just tapped his temple with his finger, as if that explained everything. Dean sighed. “Where are the others, why aren’t they here? It’s like, what, the butt-crack of dawn?”

“Oh, they are here,” Crowley said as if it was a signal. However, it may as well be, because once the words flowed out of his mouth, Sam, Cas, and Gabriel descended into the room from the hallways.

Their expressions were calm, as if they rehearsed this scene plenty of times, like for a play. Gabriel’s expression turned to a panicked one, staring down at Dean’s chest. Dean ignored him and immediately noticed something different about Sam; it was in the way he stood, the way his eyes contained fires though he was completely calm, the way a strange, hellish buzz came off of him. Suddenly, a devilish grin flashed across Dean’s face.

“I see you’ve drunken my blood, eh, brother?”


	22. And The Demon Wins

Dean sauntered to the edge of the devil’s trap, as close as he could get to Sam, and sniffed. “Some other blood as well, I presume,” his eyes flickered back up to Sam, whose calm expression morphed into something of dismay. “You’ve become the monster I believed you would’ve.”

The words growled out of his mouth before Dean realized they had. His stern expression softened, and he stepped away from the edge of the trap. “No,” he murmured, staring down at himself.

Cas, who stood to the left of Sam, had his eyes squeezed shut as his took in steady breaths. Gabriel turned to look at Sam, who kept his eyes on Dean.

Nobody said anything. Nobody needed to ask if it was true. Gabriel assumed Sam had been drinking blood, but didn’t know for sure. Cas felt like he should’ve known better. Crowley didn’t think much of it, not too deeply.

Before Dean could speak again, Gabriel stepped forward from the other side of Cas. “He still has a bit of demon left in him,” he announced, as if Dean wasn’t there at all.

Crowley tilted his head. “What do you mean?”  
“Can’t you see it?” Gabriel sighed. Before Crowley could answer, Gabriel continued, “the grace did its job; it fought with the demon, but there’s still just a smidge of demon left. Like, less than the lowest class demonic power here. Whatever he might choose to do with the power he has left will certainly drain him, leaving him human.” Gabriel explained, looking back at Dean, who stared at them with curiosity.

There was silence. Then, Dean heaved a euphoric sigh, as if he was washed with realization. His eyes lifted up to Sam, bright, apple green meeting with earthy hazel.

“Let me heal you.”

Sam’s eyebrows lifted. “Heal me? From what?” Sam’s tone sounded exasperated, not seeming to know what Dean was talking about.

“The demon blood,” Dean almost seemed angry and heated up, like a corn kernel about to pop. “Let me use the rest of my power to cure you.”

Everyone stared intently at the two, like the next words where the climax of the story, and they were the audience sitting at the edge of their seat.

Sam’s cool façade dissolved out of existence. “Dean, you just- the demonic part of you left keeps poking out! How do I know you’re not going to-“  
“Just let me do it before it happens again!” Dean snapped, his eyes growing shady. Sam waited a moment, in case someone else wanted to step in with his own opinion.

Nobody spoke. Gabriel and Crowley watched intently, waiting for the younger Winchester to speak or the older Winchester to move. Just as Dean lifted his foot to step forward, Cas turned slightly to focus his attention to Sam.

“Healing is one of the most basic tasks for demons his rank,” Cas spoke up, “with the very little amount of power I assume he has left, healing you will certainly drain him.” Sam nodded carefully, worriedly meeting Cas’ eyes. “I do not believe he is capable of doing anything harmful, in his state.” He reassured, placing his hand on Sam’s shoulder.

Sam smiled genuinely, returning the gesture of a hand on the shoulder. “Thanks Cas.”

Sam then turned to look at Crowley, who managed to at least shrug, and Gabriel, who nodded and said, “It’s worth a shot.”

Sam looked back over at Dean, who showed a face of mixed feelings. There was evil inside of him that was being fought by Dean’s brotherly love. Dean showed concern, irritation, joy, sadness, and relief all at once and it was too hard to pinpoint an exact emotion.

Finally, Dean spoke. “Please,” his voice pleading yet demanding at the same time, “before- before I do something bad again-“ He choked.

Sam let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He pulled his hands into a fist and stepped forward to the edge of the red-painted devil’s trap.

Suddenly, Dean abruptly let out a strangled yell and wrapped his hand tight around his arm- right over the Mark of Cain. His eyes were squeezed shut as he gasped painfully through clenched teeth.

“It’s starting to drain out,” Gabriel announced as Dean’s knees gave out. Sam instinctively caught him by the sides and leaned his body onto him, giving Dean a steady object to hold on to. The others surged forward to help Dean. Soon enough, Dean was able to stand with the help of Crowley, who offered his arm for Dean to use to steady himself.

“What do we do?” Cas asked, concern painted onto his face.

“The Mark is already trying to use up what’s left of him, so the quicker he does something with the power, the better.” Crowley explained.

Sam again stepped forward within hands-reach of Dean, waiting for him to do something.

Out of habit, Dean placed his shaky hand on top of Sam’s head, when suddenly Sam jerked back. He closed his eyes and shuddered, Dean’s wishes echoing in the back of his mind.

_Goodnight, Sammy…_

Sam opened his eyes to see four very panicked faces staring at him with wide eyes. “Sorry,” he murmured, “I’m okay, just… just not there, okay?” He lowered his lead slightly with raised eyebrows, and Dean nodded, not exactly remembering why Sam didn’t like it.

Dean reached out again and placed one of his calloused hands along Sam’s jaw, cupping his face in his single hand. Sam didn’t lean into the touch, not just yet.

Both of the brothers closed their eyes.

Dean’s fingertips glowed a light red, and Sam clenched his teeth. Sam felt the power fade from his veins, like someone was cleaning a dirty plate of extra grime. He felt defeated and tired, but something replaced the powerful feeling of the demon blood.

He felt _pure_.

He opened his eyes when he felt Dean’s hand leave his face. Dean slowly flexed his hand, staring at it as if he was wondering how he managed to do such a thing.

Dean then looked up at Sam, who had a growing smile, but it all faded to black. Dean fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the incredibly long wait for an incredibly short chapter! Don't worry, I've gotten back into the flow of writing (though I don't know for sure how often I'll get to write) so I hopefully I'll get more chapters up. The next one is long, don't worry!
> 
> ily all  
> -Cameron


	23. Soul Survivor

It felt like only seconds later to Dean when he opened his eyes. He was back in his room, lying on top of the covers of his comfortable bed. There was a horrible ache throughout his whole body and his stomach rumbled with hunger. As soon as his eyes opened he instantly felt tired again.

Dean propped himself up onto his elbows and a groan escaped his lips, easing himself back onto the pillow.

"Dean?"

Sam had launched himself towards Dean, wrapping his hands around Dean's arm.

"Hey, Sammy." Dean croaked, cracking a small smile at his brother. Dean's insides shattered into a million pieces as Sam's face broke. Suddenly, his brother's huge arms were wrapped around him, clinging to his brother as if he was going to turn back any moment. Dean did his best to wrap his free arm around Sam's broad shoulders.

"Dean… Dean… you're okay… you're human… you- you-" Sam mumbled, choking on his final words.

"It's alright, brother," Dean murmured as his brother tightened his grip on him. Dean winced slightly, and coming to his senses, Sam let go and helped Dean sit up against the headboard. Once Dean was situated Sam sat back down, moving his book to Dean's bedside table.

"What're you reading?"

Sam lifted it up to show to Dean. "Some book Gabriel told me to read.  _Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions._ " He responded, flipping the book around to look at the title. "It was published in 1884. It's pretty good so far."

Dean couldn't help but chuckle. "So, I guess you've warmed up to the guy who played sadistic tricks on people and killed me a hundred times."

Sam put the book down, shrugging. "I kind of had to. I mean, he was on our side and we needed all the help we could get." He averted his gaze from Dean, cracking a smile. "I think I even consider him a friend now."

"Well I'm glad to hear that, kiddo!" A voice rang from across the room. Gabriel was leaning against the doorway, usual smirk playing at his lips. He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers. "Ready for me to work my magic on you, Dean?"

Dean stared at Gabriel for a moment, slightly disappointed at the loss of seeing his beautiful sets of golden wings, then creased his eyebrows together in confusion before looking down at his forearm and discovering that the Mark of Cain was still tattooed into his skin. "Uh, yeah. Go ahead." He replied awkwardly, holding his arm out.

Sam scooted the chair closer to Dean and put a hand on his shoulder. Gabriel quickly approached Dean's bedside and took ahold of Dean's wrist.

"You ready?"

Dean drew in a deep breath and nodded. Gabriel carefully placed his other hand over the Mark, which was burning hot like fire.

A sensation like jumping into a pool filled is entire body; he was washed with a wave of coolness, starting from where Gabriel's hand hovered over his arm. The cold, serene feeling drowned his entire body all at once, though it felt as intense as standing outside in the windy wintertime. Then, as quickly as it had started, it stopped.

Dean opened his eyes, not having realized he had closed them. For the first time in months, Dean felt peace. Every shaky breath he drew in felt clean and fresh, albeit being in the musty bunker.

It was like a tremendous weight was lifted from his shoulders. There was no strong sense of need pulsing through his veins; no more need to kill, no more need to stay away from home…

Home. He was home.

The placid silence began to fade as voices broke through the smooth surface.

"…hear me? Dean? Are you okay?"

It took a moment for Dean to grasp that Sam and Gabriel were leaning over him, worriedly calling his name.

"M'okay…" Dean murmured, repositioning himself to a more comfortable position. "Is it go-" Dean cut off his question as he looked down at his arm, Mark perfectly wiped off.

"Good as new." Gabriel reassured with a broad grin, stepping back as Sam engulfed Dean into another bear hug. What Gabriel didn't expect, however, was for Sam to attack him next, wrapping his huge arms across Gabriel's back. Gabriel couldn't even get out a "whoa there, kiddo," before Sam spoke.

"Thank you so much, Gabriel. You saved him. You saved him." Sam almost sounded as if he were on the verge of tears, but nobody blamed him. Gabriel patted Sam's back and released him, turning to a slightly amused Dean.

"What do you want?"

"What? Oh, nothing," Dean paused, staring at the two for a moment, then said, "actually, I'm pretty hungry."

"Would you like something to eat?" Sam asked, returning to the bedside.

Before Dean could answer, Gabriel announced, "I'll make something," and left the room with a snap.

Dean had only just noticed it. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"  
"Where's Cas?"

A smile tugged at the corners of Sam's mouth. "He's waiting in the other room; he thought it'd be best to not have a crowd of people here when you wake up. Would you like me to get him?"

Dean merely nodded, and Sam stood up to retrieve Cas.

Both Cas and Dean broke into a smile at the sight of the other. Before Cas could say anything, Dean reached up as soon as he was close enough and pulled him into a hug.

The first thing Cas said, while being wrapped in each other's arms, was, " _you're human_."

Dean smiled against Cas's shoulder and whispered, " _so are you_."

Dean felt Cas's tears on the side of his face and held him tighter, not daring to let go, as if he'd disappear the moment they left contact.

Cas pulled away slightly so he could sit on the edge of the bed and look at Dean's face, but still kept his hands firmly upon Dean.

Dean smiled sadly and wiped away Cas's tears with his thumb, grazing over his cheekbone. He watched carefully as Cas's watery eyes darted over his face, lingering on his eyes, then his lips…

They both seemed to decide on it at the same time; their eyes closed as they brought their heads closer together, everything seeming to move in slow motion. It was like standing in the ocean, facing the land and anticipating a wave to crash against you. It seemed as if their lips would never touch, but then a sensation similar to fireworks bursting inside of your chest were set off in their bodies as they felt the new feeling of the other's lips on theirs.

Years of bottled up tension and feelings were suddenly spilled. All of the unsaid words seemed to reveal themselves as the two melted into each other's touch. Every broken moment of tragedy and sadness and anger disappeared. They could touch each other. There were no horns. There were no halos. Both were completely  _human_  and exactly where they wanted to be.

After years and years had passed Cas finally pulled away from Dean, carefully resting his forehead against Dean's as they shared gasps of mingled breaths. When Cas opened his eyes, he had never been happier to see green.

* * *

Dean didn't move much for a while. For months he was deprived of food and sleep, so everyone was careful not to bother him too much, but still assist him with his needs. For a week he relaxed in bed or around the bunker, slowly regaining his strength. Though relieved by the sight of his healthy friends, a huge wave of guilt flowed over him. He had done things that were unforgivable.

He knew the questions were going to come soon, and he was dreading to answer them. Thinking about them gave him a horrible feeling that made his entire body sting.

"So," Sam started, taking a seat at the table across from Dean, "are you feeling better?"

Dean maintained a cool façade as he answered, "Well, I'm not a demon anymore, so that's a plus."

Sam managed a half-hearted laugh. "Do you think you're ready to, you know, answer some questions?"

Dean heaved a sigh and stared across the table at his brother. "Might as well get them over with."

After a slight pause, Sam asked, "why… why did you leave your blood for me?"

Dean closed his eyes. "Sammy… everything that happened, every horrible thing I did… I regret it. All of it. I was sadistic and crude, and- and I wasn't your brother. I knew that eventually you'd drink the blood and become something you weren't. I guess… I guess I had this idea that you could side along with me." Dean regretfully opened his eyes and looked at his brother. His expression was unreadable; he looked horrified and worried and almost angry.

"You…" Sam trailed off and clenched his fist. "You wanted me to become a demon?  _Boy King Sam Winchester_." He almost spat out the words. "That was the apocalypse, and  _Lucifer_."

Dean drew in a sharp breath and squeezed his eyes shut. That name triggered memories of that terrifying voice echoing in his head rushed through his mind – the voice that controlled him, the voice that  _guided_  him…

"What is it?" Sam asked, frightened demeanor relaxing into worry.

" _Lucifer,"_ Dean shivered. The memories flashed before his eyes; repelling the trials, kidnapping Jael, attacking Sam, all to prevent the  _agonizing_ pain…

"What? What about Lucifer? Dean!"

Dean's eyes snapped open, staring at his brother with panicked eyes. Sam was leaning across the table, gripping Dean's wrist.

"Lucifer," Dean repeated, trying his best to relax, "he… I  _heard_  him, Sam. In my head. He wasn't actually here – I don't think he was, at least."

"What do you mean, what did he do?"

"He… he was trying to control me. And do you know what? It worked."

There was a pause, until Sam quietly asked, "how?"

"He caused me pain. If I refused to do something, it felt like someone was bashing my brains and blending my organs together." Dean nearly choked over his words, the memories provoking.

Sam stared at his hands in thought. "So when you thought your arm was broken, it was really just Lucifer messing around in your head?" Dean nodded. "Did you ever stop hearing him?"

Dean started to think back to the last few months. At first it was just a constant, annoying voice that never left him alone, but later it slowly faded and faded until…

Until they were his thoughts entirely.

Dean shivered. "After awhile it just… went away." Sam nodded and went into deep thought about this. "Look, Sam," he started, pulling his head up to look at his brother, "everything that happened… I can't look at any of you without remembering the things I've done. I  _kidnapped_  Jael. I almost  _killed_  you, Sam!"

Sam shook his head. "It wasn't you Dean. It's the past now, it's-"  
"I could have fought it, dammit!" Dean yelled. Neither of them spoke.

"You can't just hit an undo button." Sam said quietly. "Jael's alright. We've talked with her and she forgives you. She knows how it took effect on you." After pausing and Dean hadn't said anything, he continued, "we're both alive and healthy and alright. Don't focus too much on the past, okay?"

"I can't help it," he croaked, "I feel like everyone is hiding and sugarcoating the hatred, and the-"

"Dean," Sam interrupted, "go get some more rest."

So he did.

* * *

After lunch the next day, Dean was surprised to get a visit from Jael.

"Hey, kid," he greeted, trying his best to smile. They were standing in the large bunker kitchen, surrounded by neglected dirty dishes.

"Hello, Dean. Are you feeling better?" She asked. She stared up at him with beautiful brown eyes.

"I am," he said, prepping the sink for some dish washing. "Look, I'm sorry for everything that happened while you were here, I really wished we didn't have to drag you into this, Jael. Especially our… incident."

Jael merely gave him a toothy grin. "It's alright. It may have been hard but it was more fun than being with the other kids. Sam even told me that he's gonna help me find my mama!" She exclaimed. Dean smiled back at her and stopped the hot water flowing from the faucet. "And that's okay. I was scared but that's okay, because I know if someone else were in my place they'd be scared too. But Sam, Gabe, and Cas told me that it wasn't really you and I shouldn't be worried. I believe them too, and I also forgive you."

Dean kneeled down to eye level and smiled. "Thank you, Jael." He said weakly. Suddenly, Jael leapt into his arms and hugged him. Dean chuckled and hugged her back. "Really, is there anything that you'd like me to do? You know, to make it up to you?"

Jael stepped back and put her finger on her chin in thought. Dean took her sudden smile as a conclusion to her thoughts. "Will you come with me to find my mama?"

Dean smiled back at her. "Of course."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure you're happy with this chapter. I titled it after my favourite episode so far this season. It seemed to fit the chapter. What do you guys think of season ten so far? It's a shame Deanmon wasn't here for long, but it's possible he might be back. It's really surprising to me how many things that are happening in canon is something I wrote in my story (it's implied that Sam drank demon blood, Dean trying to kill Sam, stubborn angels, etc). Also, I'm almost done with the next chapter.
> 
> Speaking of the next chapter - I'm sorry to say that it will be the last. And I just want to say now, that I had so much fun writing this and I really hope you enjoyed reading it. ^-^
> 
> ily all • pls review  
> -Cameron


	24. Livin' on a Prayer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here it is - the final chapter. I just want to say that I've had so much fun writing this fic and I would've never had expected this much attention, or for me to write this much. I'm just so glad everyone likes it. I'm sad that it's finished, but also relieved so I can focus on writing other fics.   
> I would love you forever if you would please leave one final comment on this chapter to tell me your thoughts on the entire thing. I would love to know your final thoughts, and it could also help me with future fics.   
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy this final, long chapter. /crosses fingers that i didn't forget anything/  
> Thank you again, so so much.  
> ily all • pls comment one last time for little ol' me /gideon impression/  
> -Cameron

“Can you tell me those coordinates again, Jael?” Sam didn’t even bother to look over at her. The entire household sat in their makeshift living area as Sam typed away on his computer. Sam sat in the middle of the couch with Gabriel and Jael on either side of him, while Cas sat on the floor against the couch on Gabriel’s side. Dean walked into the room with a slice of pie and sat on the same armrest.

Jael, who sat with her mother’s bible on her lap, leaned closer towards the laptop to get a better view. “Forty, thirty-four, fifty-seven, negative ninety-seven, forty-four, forty-nine.” She recited the numbers as Sam typed them in on Google Maps.

The map zoomed in onto a small warehouse off of a small farm in Bennett, Nebraska.

“Do you really think my mama might be there?” Jaelynna mused.

“I guess we’ll have to find out.” Sam replied, moving on to find directions. “It would take about two hours to drive.”

Gabriel scooted closer. “Oh, there’s no need for driving, I can just zap us all up there.”

Sam turned back to Jael. “You up for this?” She eagerly nodded. He then looked over at Dean, who was currently refusing to give Cas a bite of his pie. “How about you guys?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, we’ll come.” Dean answered.

Gabriel hopped up and everyone followed. “Keep your hands on the handlebars throughout the entire ride,” he announced, his way of saying  _you must be in contact with me or someone who is in contact with me in order to come along._  He caught Dean holding his plate of pie. “And leave the pie.”

Dean shrugged and took a large, final bite of pie and set the plate down on the couch behind him.

Gabriel grabbed on to Cas’s shoulder and Sam’s wrist, as Sam held out his hand for Jael to take. Cas shyly found Dean’s hand and intertwined their fingers, and then met his eyes with a small smile. Dean smiled back and even shuffled closer.

“Everyone ready?” Gabriel asked. Everyone nodded.

Sam looked down at Jael. “Now, Jael, don’t be disappointed if your mom isn’t here. I can’t promise you anything, alright?”

Jael grinned. “Thank you. I know for sure my mama’s gonna be here, though. I don’t think she’d leave.”

 “If she isn’t here, I can use my super-duper angel powers to find her.” Gabriel reassured her with a smirk. With that, they found their selves in the chilly Nebraska air.

A dinky farm stood before them. There were no crops to harvest, rusted farm equipment laid about the yard, and a small house next to the rickety warehouse. Dean peered over at the house on the other side of the property. “Are we supposed to go over there?”

“No, the coordinates led to this warehouse.”

Everyone released their partner – save Dean and Cas – and approached the door to the warehouse. Sam was the one that stepped forward and knocked on the door. It rattled and a dog began to bark. Sam turned to share a look with the others, doing a double take on Dean and Cas, smiling, and stepped back out of the doorway.

“Who is it?” A disembodied voice called from the other side of the door.

“Uh, my name is Sam, and I’m here with my brother Dean, and our friends Gabe and Cas. We-“ he hesitated, “We found your daughter.”

There was a pause, and then a series of locks were heard until the door was cracked open.

A lean woman appeared behind the open door. She was of a good height with light brown skin and course brown hair styled into a pixie cut, a strip dyed bronze. Her brown eyes, similar to Jael’s, swept over the lot of people at her door. Tears welled in her eyes when she saw Jaelynna holding out her bible.

“Baby?” She choked out, voice cracking.

Jael’s face broke into a smile as she ran towards her mother. “Mama!”

Savannah Brook knelt down and embraced her daughter, tears streaming down her face. “Oh, Jaelynna, I’ve missed you so much, I’m not ever letting you go again.” She whispered. “Oh, baby, you’ve grown up so big and healthy and smart, just like your father.” They stayed there for a long time, sat in each other’s arms.

The others watched with small light-hearted smiles on their faces. Finally Savannah pulled away from her daughter, took the small bible, and picked her up. “Come in, please.” She beckoned for the others to join her inside.

The small warehouse had been converted into an alternative home. Despite the lack of air-conditioning, it was pretty well done. The entire building had been renovated on the inside similar to an actual house; walls separated the rooms, hardwood floors, and even a fireplace. The front room led to an opened-up living area with a small television, a worn sofa, a fading rug, and a kitchen to the right with wooden countertops and old appliances. Though the shelter was well furnished, it was nothing compared to what was seen on HGTV. It seemed all right to Savannah though.

She led them to the sofa and armchairs surrounding the TV.

“Would you like anything to drink?” She offered, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

“No, but thank you.” Sam replied as the others politely shook their heads.

Savannah sat down in an unoccupied armchair. She stared at them for a moment, struggling over what to say. She finally averted her gaze towards Jaelynna and quietly said, “I wish your father was here.”

“What happened to him?” Jael asked.

Savannah sighed and fondled the diamond ring on her finger. “Well, let’s just say he made a deal that cost his life. There was nothing we could do… and he was so young…”  
Sam and Dean perked up. “A deal? You don’t mean, like…”

“A deal at the crossroads?” Savannah finished, sharing their look of bewilderment. “You’re hunters?”

“Yeah, what happened?” Dean asked.

“Well, you see, Joseph and I both grew up hunters. His entire family was; his sister and parents taught him well. For me, it was just my mother. Joseph and I met on the same hunt in Seattle, Washington. It was a tough vampire pack and one of them had me cornered in an alleyway. Luckily, Joseph was tracking the same vamp and killed it. He’s been saving my life ever since, but not without me saving his. I teamed up with him and his sister on other hunts since then. We were easily attracted to each other, and eventually got together. During the two years we dated, he told me about the deal he made.

“Joseph had gone out while his family was on a shape shifter hunt; he volunteered to go out and get a couple weapons they had forgotten at their hotel. When he returned, the shape shifters had attacked his family. Joseph, bless his heart, was fifteen and desperate, so he sold his soul at the crossroads. The demon wouldn’t bring back his entire family, and was burdened with the decision of who to revive. In the end, he chose his sister. When he told me this, I was  _mad_. However, by the time we were married, we only had a few years left together.

“When Jaelynna was born, we weren’t in a good situation. A large werewolf pack was searching for us. During my final months of pregnancy we didn’t hunt, but we had killed some quite a bit earlier. The word was spread and some came after us. Jaelynna was only a few months old when Joseph’s ten years were coming to an end. I could  _hear_  the hounds as I drove off to the adoption center. I waited too long; I should have given her up earlier. However, I couldn’t go back in time and change that, so I left Joseph for ten minutes. He had all the protection we could get, but they still got to him before I got back. It was heartbreaking. I could not  _stand_  that moment. I sat there and cried, and I cried, and I cried until no more tears would come out of me because I had lost my husband and given up my only child. However, I got the strength to get up and carry on. I dealt with the werewolves and I moved here, away from everyone, waiting for my beautiful daughter to find her way to me.” Savannah sniffed and wiped the tears from her face, beckoning for Jaelynna to come sit on her lap. “You’ve come ten years earlier than I expected.” She whispered.

“Why didn’t you come and get me?” Jaelynna asked quietly.

Savannah sighed sadly. “I never knew when the danger would stop coming to me. I wanted you to be grown before I pulled you away from an innocent life. Of course, I haven’t been hunting in quite awhile, but I didn’t want to risk anything.”

The two sat together for a moment, the fragile silence lingering.

“So, how did you young men stumble upon my daughter?” Savannah finally asked.

“Well, it was more that she stumbled upon us. Jaelynna is a prophet of The Lord.” Gabriel stated.

“Excuse me?”

“Do you believe in God, Mrs. Brook?” Cas asked.

She looked taken aback by this. “Well, yes. Of course.”

“Well there are angels, and archangels, and heaven, and all the things that go along with it.” Sam explained. “Jael is a prophet, meaning that she can read the word of God.”

Gabriel smirked. “In fact, you’ve got an angel in your household right now.”

Savannah blinked at him. “You’re an angel?”

“Archangel. Gabriel.” He introduced. Sam stared at him; it was the first time Gabriel had taken pride in that name. “My brother here, Cas, used to be an angel as well, but gave up his grace for his boy toy here, Dean.”

Savannah sat there silently for a minute. “Well… I’ll be darned. So, how exactly did Jael find you guys?”

They began to tell Savannah their story; activating the tablet and finding Jael, the process of curing Dean, all the way up to where they currently sat. Jael happily pitched in at times, and Dean lowered his head whenever they spoke of the destruction he caused. Whenever this happened, though, Cas would squeeze or rub his hand, which certainly made him feel better.

“Wow,” Savannah said when they finished. “You all have been through quite a lot.”

“Tell me about it,” Dean muttered under his breath.

Sam checked his watch. It was later in the afternoon, nearing the evening. “Well, Mrs. Brooks, we should probably go soon.”

“What about my stuff?” Jael intervened.

Gabriel disappeared without warning, and within seconds he reappeared with all of Jaelynna’s belongings at his side. “Right here.”

Savannah stared at him in amazement for a moment before thanking him.

The six of them walked to the door. Once they were outside. Jael hugged them one by one. She first went for Dean, then Cas, then Sam, and finally, Gabriel.

“Do you need any help with the adoption center? They probably still think she’s gone missing.” Cas offered.

Savannah shook her head, picking up Jael and holding her against her hip. “No, it’s alright. We can deal with that later.” She smiled at her daughter.

“Sorry again for all the trouble we put you through.” Dean spoke up, trying his best to smile at the two.

“It’s alright, Dean. It was fun! I’m glad you’re better.” Jael responded.

Dean smiled softly. “Thank you.”

“What are you and Jael going to do now?” Cas asked.

Savannah shrugged. “Stay here for a bit, cool down, get to know each other.” She shook her head. “In a normal situation, a mother wouldn’t have to say that about her daughter.”

A small smile appeared on Cas’s face. “Well, we aren’t exactly normal, are we?”

“No, we aren’t.” Savannah gazed out at the farmland. “After a while, I think we might move. This isolation hasn’t done much for me; my heart belongs in the city.”

“Home is where the heart is.” Gabriel added in.

“And where is your heart?” She asked.

This question seemed to stump them. Many options came up.  _Lawrence, Kansas. The Impala. Heaven. The Bunker._

“With our family.”

The six of them enjoyed the quick silence of the early autumn evening. Savannah nodded sadly with a sweet smile.

“Well, goodbye! I hope to see you guys again soon. Thank you so much!” Savannah waved and grinned at them, bidding them farewell.

There was a chorus of thankyous and goodbyes from the others.

“Good luck, kid!” Gabriel called just as the door shut.

The four stood in the road for a few moments, reflecting over their time with Jael.

“You know, despite the situation, it was kind of fun having a kid around.” Sam admitted.

“Don’t get any ideas, Sasquatch.” Gabriel laughed, grabbing ahold of his wrist. “All aboard!”

Dean and Cas held hands again as Sam rested his hand on Dean’s shoulder. Once again, they found themselves in the bunker.

Dean immediately went to retrieve his slice of half-eaten pie.

“Dude, that thing’s like an hour old.” Sam commented, scrunching up his nose.

“Do you think I care? Pie is pie.” Dean purposefully shoved a large bite into his mouth in front of Sam’s face as he walked by, chewing loudly with his mouth open.

Sam laughed with disgust and sat down at the table besides Dean. The others followed, seating themselves one by one at the next available seat.

There was a moment of peace before Dean asked, “What do you think Crowley’s up to?”

Gabriel shrugged. “He left shortly after you passed out. Said something about ‘hellish duties to attend to’. I assume he’ll be back at some point.”

“What about you?” Sam asked.

“Me? I don’t know, maybe hang around here for a bit longer, if I’m welcome, of course,” Gabriel heaved a sigh, “or maybe… I could return to heaven and get things straightened out.” He rushed out the words as if he were ashamed to hear himself say such a thing. He suddenly became very interested in his fingernails.

This was the least expected answer to come out of Gabriel, especially after years and years of saying otherwise.

“But Gabriel, I thought you wanted nothing to do with Heaven and angels?” Cas commented, a look of utter confusion upon his face.

Gabriel held up his hands in surrender as he lowered his head. “I know, I know. I’ve spent centuries trying to prove that point to everyone, but honestly, I’m starting to second-guess myself. I think… I think it’s time for me to keep going.”

Everyone stared at him with their jaws on the floor.

Finally, Cas spoke, “That’s a good decision, Gabriel. The angels need some guidance.”

Gabriel let out a gasp of a laugh. “Yeah, especially after their little taste of freedom.”

“The thing about angels,” Cas continued, “is that they always want a leader; someone to tell them what to do, but once they begin to grasp the idea of free will…” Cas trailed off, shaking his head. They all knew the destruction of angels, whether they were free or not.

Gabriel was silent for a moment before he looked up again. “I can never tell if they’re happy to see me or not. They seem relieved to lay their eyes upon an archangel again, but immediately the emotions they learned as mortals come back to them, and they’re angry that I was gone. It’s almost like I can see horns growing out of their heads – and honestly, I can’t blame them. How could they not be mad?

“In a time of war and agitation and anguish – I leave them. Without saying anything, I leave my  _family_. I leave them confused, worried, Godless, and one archangel less. The youngest, most mischievous of the archangels, the closest brother of Lucifer, disappears without warning. I could  _hear_  the rumours!  _What has happened with Older Brother Gabriel? Has God cast him out, too?_

“Every time an angel dies, I can  _feel_ it; a cruel, sharp pulsing in my chest and halo and wings; the  _horrible aching_  of when Michael and Raphael were defeated; it’s too much to handle. I can’t- how do they-“

Gabriel’s speech was heated and fast. His eyes and fists were squeezed shut tight.

“Hey, hey hey! Gabriel! It’s all right, please, calm down…” Sam had turned his chair towards Gabriel, resting a reassuring hand on Gabriel’s arm.

Gabriel physically had to stop himself from saying something back, a typical teenage  _shut up bitch you don’t know me_  response under his tongue. He simply complied with Sam’s request, easing back into his chair. He inhaled slowly, filling up his lungs until they ached against his ribcage, and releasing the air like a deflating balloon.

Gabriel finally looked up at Sam, Dean, and Cas, and immediately regretted doing so.

“Would you quit looking at me like I’m some sort of injured kitten?” he snapped.

Their faces quickly dropped, as well as a defensive  _sorry_  from under Dean’s breath.

“Are you sure you’re ready to do this again?” Cas asked warily.

Gabriel scoffed. “Sure I am. Big Brother Gabriel, remember?” he tapped his temple, smirking at Cas, though he still seemed uneasy.

“You know, you’re welcome here anytime.” Sam offered, managing a small smile.

“Yeah man, having you here increases the mood by, like, two hundred percent,” Dean tried. “Really, dude, it’s like living with the Genie from Aladdin.”

They all laughed out loud – except for Cas, obviously – who had yet to see Aladdin.

“Like he’s about to burst into song every time he enters the room?” Sam added with a laugh, trying to clarify Dean’s comment.

They all burst into laughter again, including Cas. This was one of those rare moments where there didn’t seem to be any stress looming over their necks, and all the people on Earth were safe, including their family. They could sit together with a beer and tell a joke and actually laugh at it.

Gabriel waggled his eyebrows. “I’ll do that when I come back to announce my return. Speaking of which, I need to go and start getting my hands dirty.” Gabriel stood up, rubbed his hands together, and motioned for the others to do so as well. “I think I’m done tampering with alternate realities – for now. I better get to work.”

“It’s been really great having you here, Gabriel,” Cas said, standing in front of him with a wistful smile. “I’m not sure what I would’ve done if you weren’t here to help.”

Gabriel waved it off. “Nah, it’s fine, really. Just remember, I’m always here if you need anything, alright Little Bro?” He winked and pulled his brother into a hug. One of his three sets of bright golden wings wrapped instinctively around the two of them. His wings flew back into place when they released.

Dean spoke to Gabriel next. “Thanks man, for everything. I can’t thank you enough for what you did.” Dean absentmindedly rubbed his hand over his forearm where the Mark used to be.

Gabriel nodded and shrugged. “Hey, I had to do what I had to do.”

Dean then held out his hand. Gabriel stared at it for a split second before shaking his hand, but was startled when Dean pulled the archangel forward and bumped their shoulders together. Gabriel mirrored Dean with a pat on the back before pulling away.

“Thanks again.” Dean said before stepping back near Cas.

Gabriel turned to Sam. “Are you coming back?”

“Only if you want me to, Sasquatch.” Gabriel winked, which caused Sam to laugh.

“After getting used to having you here, it’s gonna be pretty boring without someone as flamboyant you.” Sam admitted with a sheepish yet reminiscent grin.

“I know, I’m the life of the party. Don’t worry, I’ll be back so soon, you’ll never have noticed that I left.”

They all shared a laugh before Gabriel embraced Sam. Sam hugged him back. Even after all this time, Sam still couldn’t believe that this was the same guy that spooked douchebags, stuck him in a time loop, put them in a TV hell and disguised himself as the Norse God of Mischief.

Right as they were about to pull away, Gabriel whispered something into Sam’s ear. Cas and Dean watched with interest as Sam stifled a laugh and whispered something back.

“Deal.” Gabriel announced, louder. They shook hands with matching expressions of amusement. Dean side glanced Cas with an arched eyebrow.

“Well,” Gabriel continued, as if nothing had happened, “I should get going. See you soon?”

They all nodded. “See you soon.”

“Until we meet again,” Gabriel tipped an imaginary hat, waggled his eyebrows, and was gone.

Gabriel stood alone in an isolated location of Heaven. It was a dainty wildflower meadow, a place where he and his brothers often let loose. Nostalgia and remorse filled his entire being as he stared out at the now empty field.

“Gabriel…” Gabriel froze at the sound of the familiar voice. He felt his entire body shake, but a smile slowly found its way upon his face. Tears welled in his eyes and spilled down his cheeks. Gabriel, no matter how far or intensely he searched, could not find the right words. His lips hardly moved but no sound came out except a faint sob. He could not focus, he could only hear the voice echoing in his mind, and feel the wet tears on his face.

“Father?”

* * *

Dean downed the rest of his beer and dropped the empty bottle into the nearest wastebasket. It was midevening – around seven o’clock – and the bunker was relatively quiet. The clatter of Sam rummaging around in the kitchen faded away as Dean neared his bedroom door. He swung the door open and walked into his room. Though the walls were bleak and there were minimal light sources, the room was still Dean’s. His weapons still sat on display on his wall, pillow centered at the headboard, and random clutter on the shelf above his bed, including a wooden cross that sat on its side. His eyes ventured to his desk. A dusty typewriter sat at the end of the desk, and a basket of records – some still in their packaging – at the other end. The table next to it held a record player, something used only every once in awhile.

It wasn’t long until Dean spotted the photos. Even though he’s looked at them a million times, he still went over and picked them up. He sat down on his bed and began to look through them yet again.

There were photos of him and Sam, sometimes Kevin as well. There were photos of his mother and father. Then there were photos of him and his mother. Those were always Dean’s favourites. It didn’t seem possible that there was a time where Dean was a normal child with a normal family. His mother made him every meal and tucked him in every night. She would sing to him and kiss his forehead and tell him that she loved him. Looking back at these pictures brought these memories back into Dean’s mind as if they were fresh and new. Everything before the Yellow-Eyed Demon was perfect. Everything changed once Sammy was born.

Dean was forced to grow up at the age of four. Dean could shoot a gun before he was ten. Dean always knew his job was to protect Sammy. From the moment he carried him out their burning front door, it was his job.

Dean knew perfectly well that his parents would be alive if Sam wasn’t born. Looking back at these photos, he knew one thing: if he could stop Sam from being born, he wouldn’t. If Sammy was here, it was okay.

“You seem happier than usual.” The familiar, gravelly voice stated from the doorway.

Dean looked up from the stack of photos. Cas stood at the open doorway of Dean’s room, a small smile playing at his lips.

“Is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?”

“A good thing,” Cas answered as he walked into the room. “We are so often worried about something, it is a relief when we have time to sit down and smile.”

“That’s some true shit right there.” Dean commented, setting the pictures down on his bedside table and scooting over to make room for Cas.

Cas eased his way onto the bed, sitting up next to Dean.

They sat together in silence, tension building. Finally, Dean tugged Castiel closer and found his hand. Dean didn’t look at Cas. Even if they had been holding hands every so often over the past couple weeks, it was still a new feeling.

Dean noticed Cas smiling at him from the corner of his eye. “What?” He asked, somewhat defensively, turning to look at him.

Cas’s smile didn’t falter. His eyes quickly scanned over Dean’s face; his eyes were bright green and his freckles were dotted all over his face. The tips of Dean’s ears were growing a light shade of pink. Cas just smiled even more.

“You.”  
“What about me?”

Cas met Dean’s eyes again. “You’re  _human_.”

Dean mirrored Cas’s smile. Before he could think too much about it, he brought his free hand up to cup Cas’s cheek. “So are you.”

Their eyes drifted shut as the distance between them closed up. The kiss was tender and chaste as they brought themselves even closer together. Hands ventured through hair and down to the waist, just enough to remind them that they were right here and not going to leave.

It didn’t matter if they went years without saying  _I love you_ ;  _you’re human_  and  _so are you_  is enough for them.

* * *

Sam knocked on the doorframe of Dean’s room. “Can I come in?”

ACDC was playing softly from the record player. Dean and Cas still sat on the bed, leaning against each other and enjoying the music.

“Sure,” Dean said as he quickly repositioned himself on the bed, self-consciously aware of his closeness with Cas during Sam’s presence. “What’d you need?”

“We have, like, no food, so I was going to run to the store. Do you want to come?”

Dean shrugged. “Sure, I’ll go.” He eased himself off of the bed and turned to Cas. “You wanna come?”

Cas shook his head. “No, it’s alright. You two go ahead.”

Dean shrugged on his jacket and picked up his wallet and keys. “Alright then. We’ll be back soon.”

Sam and Dean exited the bunker into the chilly evening air. It was long since the sun had set, so the night was dark and tinted with various blues.

“You wanna drive?” Dean asked, jingling the keys in the air.

“Sure.” Sam responded, making his way towards the driver’s side of the car. Dean tossed him the keys.

The bunker was farther away from the rest of the city, so it was quite a drive to the actual grocery store. Usually they got whatever junk food they could find at gas stations, but Sam had insisted on actual food.

The crisp evening air was fairly pleasant, so they rolled down the windows and hung out their arms. The radio played quietly in the background, the best local classic rock station.

After a few minutes of silence, Sam spoke up. “So… how’re you feeling?”

Dean hummed as he glanced out the window. “I’m feeling good. Definitely better than before.”

“That’s good.”

They returned to the peaceful silence.

“How about you?”

“Me?” Sam asked. “I’m okay. I’m just glad this entire thing is over with. It’s kind of crazy, looking back at it.”

Dean let out a poor excuse of a laugh. “Yeah. It really was. Even though it was recent, to me, it still seems like it happened a long time ago, or a distant memory. Kind of like a bad dream. A long, vivid bad dream.”

Sam managed to pull up the corners of his mouth. “Yeah…” He drove with one hand on the wheel, the other arm slung out the window. Barely any cars were out – or at least in their area.

“So… you and Cas?” Sam questioned, sneaking a glance at his brother. His small grin was growing as he witnessed Dean’s annoyed reaction.

“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up; do it now to get it over with.” Dean kept his gaze on the upcoming traffic light. When Sam didn’t laugh, Dean turned to look at him. He paused. “Why aren’t you laughing?”

Sam shrugged, still looking amused. “Honestly, it’s not really that surprising. I was just waiting until one of you guys gathered the strength to make a move.” He admitted.

Dean sighed and resigned to looking out the window again. “Yeah. We, uh,” he coughed quickly, “we… we made moves.”

Sam finally laughed and Dean glared at him.

Before Sam could reply, Dean said, “if you’re about to ask for details, don’t go there.”

“I wasn’t,” Sam defended, “just, are you guys, like, a thing?”

“I don’t know man,” Dean sighed, “I guess.”

“You guys seemed to have been a thing for awhile, even though you guys never showed it.”

Dean furrowed his brow, but decided not to question it. “Wha- never mind.”

Sam shrugged. “I’m just glad things are going good between you two.”

“It really doesn’t bother you?” Dean questioned.

“What?”

“Cas and I? Together? Were you asleep during this entire conversation?” Dean pushed.

“Of course not! It was pretty much the only thing Gabriel and I talked about.” Sam replied with a chuckle.

Dean turned away, feeling the heat rising to his cheeks. He touched his face gently, feeling the warmth spread to his fingers. When was the last time he blushed?

“What about Gabriel? Aren’t you going to miss your new BFF?” Dean tried to change the subject off of his romantic life.

Sam shrugged. “He’s visiting, right? We’ll see him often.”

Dean’s plan to irritate Sam had failed, so he slumped down in his car seat. “What did you and that trickster make a deal on, anyways? Right before he left?”

Sam made a snorting noise in the back of his throat in his attempt not to burst out laughing. “Are you sure you want to know?”

Dean narrowed his eyes at him. “I’m slightly more hesitant, but yes, I do want to know.”

“We, uh, we made a bet. About you guys.”

“ _What?_ ”

Sam had trouble keeping his obnoxious grin tucked away as he spoke. “He bet twenty dollars that you and Cas would “ _do the fondue_ ,” as he put it, by the end of the month. I said it would take longer.”

Dean didn’t say anything, cheeks heating up again. It wasn’t until the current song playing on the radio had finished when Dean replied, “well, let’s just say that Gabriel’s going to be twenty dollars richer.”

Sam nearly crashed the car.

Dean guffawed as Sam quickly swerved the car back into their lane. The night was getting darker and cooler as they finally got closer to civilization.

_Once upon a time, not so long ago…_

Bon Jovi began to play on the radio. Sam glanced at the volume button.  _Every single time_  someone mentioned Bon Jovi, Dean said the same thing: “ _Bon Jovi rocks on occasion.”_

The familiar tune of Livin’ on a Prayer started up.

_Tommy used to work on the docks_

_Union’s been on strike_

_He’s down on his luck_

_It’s tough, so tough_

Sam glanced over at Dean and noticed his head bobbing along to the beat.

“Is this a good occasion?” he asked, nodding his head towards the radio.

Dean nodded and Sam proceeded to turn up the volume so the music was blasting out the windows.

Once the memorable pre-chorus began, Sam began to hum along and Dean softly sings.

Dean looked over at Sam with a devious grin and they both met a silent agreement.

As soon as the chorus began, they began to yell out the lyrics.

_Whoa, we’re halfway there_

_Whoa, livin’ on a prayer_

_Take my hand and we’ll make it – I swear_

_Whoa, livin’ on a prayer_

Sam laughed as Dean grabbed his hand from the steering wheel at the third line, holding up their joined hands to the ceiling of the car.

Dean released their hands as the song went on, and they still sung along. When they reached the chorus again, the close proximity of the town didn’t stop them from singing as loud as they could:

_Whoa, we’re halfway there_

_Whoa, livin’ on a prayer_

_Take my hand and we’ll make it – I swear_

_Whoa, livin’ on a prayer_

In this moment, it didn’t matter what was to come. Sure, trouble might come to them, especially with angels and demons at their side, but nothing was going to stop them from singing in the Impala on the way to the store.

They knew that their job would never be done. There were always dangers that followed them home. The biggest risk to the Winchesters was knowing that any loved ones would be considered a target. They now understand the importance of taking that risk.

However, that wasn’t what they needed to be worrying about right now.

All that mattered was that their family was safe.

There wasn’t such thing as a perfect ending. They didn’t believe in a conclusion that was all tied up in a bow; Sam and Dean never expected that.

But at the moment, everything was okay.


End file.
